


Affliction of War: The Intermission

by StrawberryGirl87



Series: The Affliction of War [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-05 10:25:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 48,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4176324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawberryGirl87/pseuds/StrawberryGirl87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An intermission story between the events of The Affliction of War and Captain America:Winter Solider, when the proper sequel is set to happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

Teddy had begged and pleaded with Harry since the beginning of January, when their family of five had arrived in America, for him to be allowed to join the month long S.H.I.E.L.D. training program over the summer holidays. The now ten year old had started the fourth grade in the middle of the year and found that he had not made friends quickly. As he had been home schooled while living with his Grandmother, he found that he was smarter than most of the other kids in his year and the teachers had quickly suggested that he finish off fourth grade and then go straight into sixth when he came back after the summer.

Harry hadn't been convinced that this was a good idea, he just wanted for Teddy to enjoy being his own age, especially in a world where that wasn’t always possible. He loved that his Godson was so gifted with his studies, though Steve had managed to convinced him that it would suit Teddy so much better intellectually if he could skip a year. So reluctantly Harry had agreed that the ten year old would be better suited to a higher grade. Harry had been more undecided about the summer training program however; since Clint had mentioned it, Teddy had been desperate to go and hadn't stopped talking about it.

The only positive that Harry could derive from what he knew about the training program was that Steve, along with Clint and Natasha, would be the three main instructors. Strictly speaking it wasn't designed for those as young as Teddy, more aimed at those who wanted to join the Academy of Operations when they turned sixteen. It was one of the more challenging academies to get into along with the academy of Science and Technology, who were also running their own summer training program.

Harry had also been asked to join Steve, Natasha and Clint as one of the instructors on the course but, with Sarah and JJ only just six months old, he had politely declined the position. He had, however, said that he would put in an appearance, just to give the recruits a once over and show them a few of his non-magical tricks. The fact that he had been offered a position as a trainer and that Steve had accepted the position did make it a little easier to think of Teddy attending but Harry still wasn't sure that it was a great idea. He didn't like the idea of the ten year old learning how to fight to the standards that S.H.I.E.L.D. expected; it seem simply barbaric at his age. Harry didn't want for Teddy to follow in his footsteps. He wanted for his Godson to have a normal life, or at least as normal as he could.

The ten year old was desperate though, he really wanted to go, he wanted to be an Avenger and the more Teddy begged and pleaded the more Harry's resolve slipped. He had been thinking about it a lot and at last had came to a final decision late on a Saturday evening when he was sitting on the sofa with Steve, reading. Teddy and the twins were tucked into bed and Harry wasn't far away from following them. It had been a long and active day before the first official day of the summer holidays, they had rather enjoyed taking the children out to the park, watching Teddy climbing trees while the twins enjoyed crawling through the grass.

With a deflated sigh, Harry turned to look up at Steve from where he was snuggled into his side, the two of them on the sofa together, giving him a soft smile. His attraction to the man had never faltered, not even when they had had their differences, which seemed to happen more often than not recently. “He can go,” Harry said with a rather pointed look, “but I want to come and supervise him, at least to begin with.”

It took a moment for Steve to realise what it was that Harry was talking about before realising what he had meant. “You're going to bring Sarah and JJ into the S.H.I.E.L.D. base willingly?” Steve asked, a little shocked at this sudden change of heart from his fiancé. So far, Harry hadn't been at all keen on any of his children setting foot on any S.H.I.E.L.D. base, wanting to keep them safely away from all of that and give them a relatively normal childhood. Steve could completely understand this of course, sharing the sentiment that he wanted the children to remain out of harm’s way. Neither of them wanted to see their children be exploited, not by S.H.I.E.L.D., not by anyone.

“Teddy really wants to do this,” Harry said with a frown, still not sure that he was doing the right thing by allowing the ten year old to participate, “he'll be in the capable hands of people that know and care for him; besides, Sarah and JJ are part Avenger after all, I can't keep them from who they are forever, they're going to be curious.”

“Yes,” Steve agreed, glad that Harry seemed to understand that being part of S.H.I.E.L.D was just as much part of their blood as it was in Steve. “However, they are also magical, they will both be going to be going to Hogwarts when they turn eleven, just like Teddy.” Harry had been firm on this, all of his children would be receiving their magical education from the age of eleven until they were seventeen. S.H.I.E.L.D couldn’t have them until after that and only then if it was their choice to join. 

Steve had not been overly keen on the idea of sending their children away to boarding school for the majority of the year and only seeing them over Christmas and the summer holidays. It seemed a strange concept to be separate from their children for such long stretches of time while they were still so young and it just didn't sit right with him. When he had voiced his concerns however, Harry had shrugged his shoulders saying that it built up confidence and independence. It wasn't even a question to Harry, his children would be going, it was their birthright to do so.

The main reservations that Steve had, however, were all about safety. Harry had made the mistake of recounting stories of things that had happened to him while he had been a student at the school and now it was all Steve could think about. He hadn't wanted for his children to be flying broomsticks and being at risk of being attacked by trolls. The thought of werewolves and dragons had been enough to make him sure that neither Sarah nor JJ were going to survive a single year of being at Hogwarts; he was damn near terrified for Teddy, who would be going the September after he turned eleven. It was part of the reason that Steve had stood firmly on Teddy's side when he had wanted to join the training program.

“Just promise me that if S.H.I.E.L.D. take an active interest in Teddy or the twins that they will still be free to make their own choices. I don't want Nick Fury to think that he has any rights over our children,” Harry said firmly. He would always support his children whatever they decided as long as the choice they made was of their own free will. Though he knew he wouldn’t be able to fault them for wanting to be be heroes, it was part of who they were because it was who their parents were.

“I wouldn't have it any other way,” Steve agreed, leaning down to place a chaste kiss to his fiancé's lips. Their wedding was only just over a month away, everything was in place for the 31st of August when they would finally exchange their vows. Steve couldn’t wait for the day that they became husbands, knowing that it was the right thing to do. Harry on the other hand wasn’t so sure about it but he wanted to keep his family together so he pretended to share Steve’s enthusiasm for their impending nuptials. 

“I’m going to bed,” Harry announced, throwing down the book he had been reading onto the coffee table as he stifled a yawn. “You coming up, Cap?” he asked, looking to the super soldier with a smile. 

“In a minute,” Steve said, returning the smile, pulling Harry into a sweet kiss before releasing him, marvelling at just how perfect his soon to be husband was. They had three beautiful children and a wonderful life together, they had so many things that Steve had never thought that he would ever have after he had been thawed from the ice. 

“Don’t be too long,” Harry said as he pulled himself up from the sofa and headed out of the room, so tired that even conquering the stairs seemed like too much. Keeping a firm hold on the banister he managed to reach the landing but before heading to bed he went to check on the children. 

First, Harry poked his head into Teddy’s room. The ten year old was sprawled across his bed, the covers half covering him and half on the floor. He couldn’t help but smile at his Godson, who was cuddling his green Hulk teddybear. It had been a joke gift from Tony but one that Teddy had loved. It was the perfect replacement for the one he had lost after the kidnap and now he refused to sleep without it. 

Satisfied that his eldest was safe and sleeping peacefully, Harry closed the door and moved across the hall to the twins shared room. Their home had enough bedrooms for Sarah and JJ to have one each, however, after two sleepless nights for the whole Potter-Roger’s family it was discovered that one twin couldn’t sleep or even be soothed without the other. 

Both of his six month old children were fast asleep but somehow, and Harry couldn’t be sure how, JJ had managed to make his way into Sarah’s crib. Neither of them were growing at an abnormal rate, which had been Harry’s main concern when his pregnancy had been so short; though, despite being the right measurements for children of six months, their development was at least two months ahead of where it should have been. 

JJ had started crawling the week before, Sarah copying her brother only a few days later. They often babbled to one another, making little sense to anyone else but sounding very much as if they were plotting and planning something mischievous. It was quickly becoming Harry’s favourite sound to hear. Harry was still rather perplexed as to how his rather talented twins were managing to move cots when they were yet to show any sign of magic in front of anyone. 

Every night recently Harry had found them sharing a crib despite putting them in their own cots. The two of them preferred to be close to one another and were always searching out the other if they were moved too far apart from one another. He remembered fondly how, when they had been born, Draco had had to struggle to remove them from his stomach as they had been holding on to each other. 

Tip-toeing into the room, not wanting to wake his young children, Harry very carefully lifted JJ out of of Sarah’s crib, being cautious not to wake him up as he placed his youngest son back into his own cot; making sure that both of the twins were placed with their feet at the foot of their beds, he tucked their blankets tightly around them both. 

Sarah had stirred, complaining rather sleepily when her brother had been moved back into his own crib, however, she quickly settled back down when she realised that he was still there and it was only their mother in the room with them. Harry was just glad that the two of them were sleeping through the night; waking up in the middle of the night and then again at the crack of dawn for feeds and nappy changing had been exhausting. 

Happy in the knowledge that all three of his children were sleeping peacefully, he placed a soft kiss to the head of both JJ and Sarah before leaving the room, closing the door over but not shutting it all the way. He took a moment before heading to his and Steve’s bedroom, appreciating just how lucky he was to have such a beautiful family. 

\-------------------x 

On the first of August the alarm clock had both Steve and Harry reluctantly awake at five in the morning. They had a S.H.I.E.L.D. car coming to pick them up in a couple of hours and they had a lot to do with three youngsters to wake up, feed and dress. 

“You take JJ, I’ll grab Sarah,” Harry said as he swung his legs out of bed, thinking that it would be easier to divide and conquer. Steve was already up and on the floor doing his morning routine of push ups; he liked to start the day like this and Harry liked to watch him do so. “Once the twins are dressed, you tackle Teddy while I make breakfast.” 

Nimbly getting to his feet, having finishing his morning exercise routine, Steve grabbed Harry’s hips and pulled the smaller man into him, nibbling at the crook of his neck and feeling Harry melt into him. Tilting his head, the wizard took his fiancé’s lips in a fiercely passionate kiss, moaning into it as Steve took charge, one of his hands delving into the front of Harry’s pyjama bottoms. The super soldier smiled at what he found there, his lover was hard for him, it was just a shame that they didn’t have time to play. 

“Sounds like a plan,” Steve said with a small chuckle, “though maybe a cold shower, for both of us,” he added, pulling Harry into him further so that the smaller man could feel that the need was a mutual one. Harry couldn’t help himself, groaning with the need for a release, but he knew that they only had two hours before they had to leave if they were going to get there on time. 

“Tonight,” Harry said, turning in his lover’s arms so that he could look up at the larger man with lust filled emerald eyes, his hand going to caress Steve through his loose fitting trousers that he wore to bed. The super soldier groaned as Harry pulled away and went to start getting the children up and dressed. 

Later in the morning, at ten past seven, the Potter-Roger’s family were still trying to leave the house. The S.H.I.E.L.D. car had arrived for them right when it was meant to but only Teddy had been ready for it, the ten year old bouncing up and down with excitement on the curb next to the blacked out car that was a little larger than a standard SUV to accommodate the family of five plus the driver. 

They would have been ready on time, however, Harry had had to redress Sarah-Lily after she had mashed banana into her pretty summer dress. This had then made JJ rather jealous that his sister was getting attention so he had filled his nappy, the stench which accompanied it enough to make Steve’s eyes water a little as he had changed his son. Of course JJ had needed a full outfit change too when the super soldier had realised that the contents had exploded up his back. 

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that had come to escort them to the training centre next door to the Triskelion was waiting patiently in the driver's seat of the SUV, having been told by Fury that there might be a small waiting time. The window had been wound down in the heat and Teddy was talking a mile a minute at the agent who remained silent, occasionally nodding his head in agreement to what the ten year old was saying. 

Finally Harry and Steve came out of the house, each of them with one of the twins strapped securely into a car seat on one arm. Steve, who had Sarah, hastily locked up the house, overly aware of how late they were. Harry meanwhile made his way to the car to clip JJ into the back seat. 

“Can we go now?” Teddy asked as Steve passed Sarah to Harry so that she too could be secured into the back of the SUV, Teddy having clambered in to sit in between his two younger siblings. 

“Almost,” Harry returned with a smile, rather enjoying his Godson’s enthusiasm for what they were going to be doing today. “Steve, have you got the changing bags?” he asked in a panic, not wanting to leave without them. Each of the twins had a bag each filled with spare clothes, nappies, wipes, bottles, charmed to stay fresh and weaning food, just in case. He didn’t like to leave the house unprepared. 

“Yes, both of them,” Steve said reassuringly, “I’ve already put them in the trunk,” he said, placing a soft kiss to his fiancé’s cheek, feeling the tension in him as Harry leaned against him with a tired sigh. They were only a little over two hours into their busy day and it seemed that he was exhausted already. 

Leaving the house for any stretch of time always had to be a well coordinated mission in itself, everything having to be planned and executed with perfection. Harry checked to make sure that Teddy had put his seatbelt on. Then, subtly casting a slight extension charm on the back seat so that he could slid in as well, not wanting to sit in the front seat with Steve, far too protective of his three children not to sit in the back with them. 

\---------------x

“I wasn’t sure that we would see you here, Blackbird,” Fury greeted as the Potter-Roger’s family extracted themselves from the official S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle that had stopped outside of the Triskelion. Clint and Natasha were stood just behind of them, both of them dressed down, ready for their day of training the potential new recruits and seeing what they had to offer. 

“You know me, Director, I can’t keep myself away and besides, who wouldn’t want to watch a load of hot guys work out?” Harry said with a smile as Teddy rushed out passed him, barrelling into Clint, who caught the ten year old easily, swinging him up and into a crushing bear hug that made Harry smile as he went to fetch the frame of the pushchair from the trunk of the SUV. 

“I’m actually rather glad that you’re here,” the Director said with a smug look on his face, “I have something I’d like you to take a look at,” he added and Harry nodded as with one kick to the frame, he erected the frame of the pushchair. Just in time too as Steve came round to join them, carrying Sarah in her car seat. 

“Not trying to seduce my future husband into a mission are you?” Steve asked, trying to sound light hearted as he handed over his daughter to Harry who clipped the car seat to the double pushchair, making sure it was secure. It didn’t matter how light hearted he tried to sound there was an undeniable hint of fear too because he didn’t want Harry involving himself in any S.H.I.E.L.D. related missions. 

He had never expected for Harry to change, he knew that the wizard had an unquenchable thirst for adventure and the unrelenting need to prove himself. It was an urge that had been somewhat suppressed during the pregnancy and for a few months after Sarah-Lily and Joseph-James had been born but Steve had noticed just how much Harry had visibly changed when Fury had mentioned needing him. Steve knew that his fiancé craved that adventure and the adrenaline that came with it. They were both heroes and that couldn’t just stop because they were parents now, it just made what they needed to do a little harder. 

It would have been so much easier if Harry could have been satisfied with just being a mother and raising their three children but Steve knew that that would never happen. Even if it could, Steve wasn’t sure that that was even what he really wanted because that wouldn’t have been the Harry that he had fallen in love with. 

“Only if he’s interested,” Fury returned, watching as Steve carefully removed JJ, still in his car seat, from the SUV before handing him over to Harry who clipped him into the frame of the pushchair next to his sister. The pushchair had been ridiculously expensive but it had also been the best thing he had bought for his twins, making transporting them from one place to another so much easier. 

“Oh, I’m interested,” Harry said as Steve went to fetch the changing bags from the trunk of the car. He purposefully waited until he couldn’t see his fiancé before he said this, not wanting to see Steve’s reaction, knowing that he would see fear in those beautiful pale blue eyes and the pain that his words had caused. 

Harry couldn’t help but laugh a little as he saw Clint lift Teddy easily up above his shoulders, sitting him there as easily as if he weighed nothing. The ten year old had turned his hair blue to match Clint’s, which Harry still hadn’t turned back, despite offering to do so. Clint had refused saying that he had lost the wager they had and he would keep the hair for the full year as they had bargained. 

Natasha had come round to look at the twins as Clint had played with Teddy, she wasn’t the kind of woman that cooed and awed over infants, however she got a far off look in her eyes when she looked at them, a look filled with so much pain that Harry was scared to ask, not wanting to upset her. 

“We should go inside,” Steve said, knowing that it was almost time for the training to start and he didn’t want to know what it was that Harry and Fury were going to talk about. The less he knew the better because then he couldn’t worry about his fiancé. “Will you be okay?” Steve asked, directing this to Harry, who nodded as he made doubly sure that both car seats were clipped firmly to the frame of the pushchair. 

Harry didn’t get a chance to respond to Steve’s question before Fury was right beside him, smiling at the super soldier. “I’ll make sure that he’s alright,” the Director said, having no intention of allowing Harry to wander around the Triskelion with his two youngest children alone. He didn’t trust everyone that worked there, he could not assure their loyalty to him or that they couldn’t be bought. 

Both Sarah-Lily and Joseph-James were beyond precious and not just to Steve and Harry. There were a lot of people who thought the same because of the parentage of the two young children. The twins had been born to two extraordinary humans, both of them well known for their superhuman abilities. Sarah and JJ were very unique youngsters and so very vulnerable to those that wanted to take them and use them. 

In their blood lay the answer to the super serum that had been lost when Erskine had lost his life shortly after Steve had been turned into the impressive soldier that he still was. However, in the twins the super serum had combined with Harry’s magic making them even more powerful and unique than anyone ever thought could be possible. Fury was very much concerned over the safety of their family, so much so that he was taking a rather vested interest in them. 

Steve nodded his head at the Director in thanks, before leaning over and placing a soft kiss to Harry’s cheek. “I’ll see you at lunch,” he said and Harry nodded, watching as Steve bent over and placed a kiss to each of the twins foreheads. 

“Take care of our boy,” Harry said in return, giving a pointed look, not only to Steve but to Clint and Natasha too. He had very reluctantly allowed Teddy to do this, Harry was not going to be happy if his Godson got hurt. 

“We’ll take care of him,” Clint assured them with a grin, Teddy still hoisted off the ground and on his back. He was rather looking forward to seeing what the little Chameleon could do, though he had become rather attached to the ten year old and he wasn’t going to allow anyone to hurt him, not even by accident. There were going to be a fair few cocky sixteen year olds present, but Clint was sure that they were going to be no match for young Teddy. 

“Make sure that you do,” Harry said, a little concerned that he had made the wrong call by allowing Teddy to do this. Steve took a moment to give Harry another kiss as Clint dropped Teddy back on his own two feet and ushered him towards the training centre, Natasha following them. 

“See you soon,” Steve said before he too followed after the others, leaving Harry and the twins with Director Fury. Nick glanced down into the push chair, smiling when he saw that both of the twins were awake, their turquoise eyes wide, taking in the world around them. 

“So what did you want me to look at?” Harry asked, turning away from watching his fiancé leave, facing Fury instead who was smirking at him. 

“I’ve been helping Agent Coulson put a rather unique team together,” Fury explained as he motioned towards the Triskelion, waiting patiently for Harry, who began to guide the pushchair towards the impressive building. “I was hoping that you could look over their files and give me your opinion.” 

“And that’s all you want?” Harry queried, feeling a little disappointed. “Just my opinion?” When he had heard that Fury had wanted something from him he had thought of all manner of things, the missions that he could be sent on, the excitement and adrenaline, this he had not anticipated. 

“To begin with,” Fury said with a knowing smile. He had thought that throwing a mission at Harry straight off the bat would have scared him off, especially seeing as he was the primary caregiver to three children, however, it seemed that Nick had underestimated Harry’s need for adventure. “I was hoping that once the team’s established that you would be an on call member of it.” 

“How unique are we talking here?” Harry asked curiously, wondering if Fury really had been able to unearth more people just like the rest of the Avenger’s. It certainly begged the question of just how many of them were out there. 

“They are the best that S.H.I.E.L.D. has to offer,” the Director explained. “Perhaps not as unique as what you are used to, however, they are all at the top of their game and they will be dealing with things that are a little out of their league. It’s highly possible that they will need your help.” 

“And you said that Coulson is heading the team?” Harry asked, liking the sound of this. He was more than open to what Fury was suggesting, it even sounded as if there might be some room for an adventure or two. 

“He is,” Fury confirmed as the two of them reached the Triskelion and Fury held the door open so that Harry could push the twins inside first. There were a fair few people milling around, a few of them casting curious glances in their direction but both Harry and Fury ignored them and kept their pace, heading for the elevator. “I believe he is here if you want to speak to him and discuss any concerns you have once you’ve seen the files.” 

“It would be good to see him again,” Harry said as the two of them came to stop at the elevators and they waited for one to arrive. He hadn’t missed just how close Nick had been to them, how alert he was to all those around them and it put Harry on edge too. He had thought that he would have been safe here at S.H.I.E.L.D. but apparently there was more going on than he was aware of. 

\-----------x

Coulson was rather excited to welcome Harry on to his team as the first official member. He wanted to show him the plane first and foremost; Fury, however, had had to remind Phil that it wasn’t ready yet and more than that Harry was not a fully fledged team member, he was simply a consultant due to his family commitments. 

With Fury taking his leave to deal with other matters that needed his attention, Harry was left in the capable hands of Phil Coulson, who had been instructed not to let Harry out of his sight under any circumstances. It had taken a while to read all of the files, the twins had not been cooperative when it came to mummy working and because of this it was almost time for the trainees to break for lunch. 

The two had headed over to the training centre in the building next to the Triskelion; there was an observation room where the two of them settled down with Sarah and JJ, who were both fussing for their next feed. They had both had a bottle while in Fury’s office but the two of them were growing and developing fast, both of them rather hungry babies. 

With one wall made entirely of glass, Harry could see the new recruits, who were all looking a little worse for wear after their morning. Teddy was included in that too, but he was still grinning from ear to ear, his hair having gone from bright blue, which had matched Clint’s, to bubblegum pink making Harry laugh. 

Coulson, under Harry’s instruction, unclipped Sarah from her car seat and held her, somewhat awkwardly, on his hip, the six month old gurgling happily at the unfamiliar man, a line of drool running down her chin, she had been cutting a new tooth for the past three days and it was only just breaking through. Sarah had always been more trusting than her brother, who didn’t like strangers. 

“What do I do with her?” Phil asked, feeling a little panicked as he turned to look at Harry who had JJ in his arms as he made up two bottles one handed, something he had become rather proficient in. Harry couldn’t help but laugh as he passed one of the bottles over to Phil who took it, looking even more confused. 

“She knows what she’s doing,” Harry said with a grin, “just hold her like this,” he said laying JJ down in his arms and handing his son the bottle. “They’ve already learnt how to hold their own bottles, they’re advanced for their ages,” he said proudly as he showed Phil exactly what to do. JJ instinctively reaching up to hold his bottle, suckiling greedily on the teet. 

He was the first to finish too, Harry smiling proudly at his son as he sat him up, rubbing at the young boy’s back until he let out a rather impressive burp. “Ta, ta,” JJ said at once, holding out his hand to Harry, flexing his fingers out, “ta, ta,” he repeated and Harry just sighed. 

Putting the young boy down, Harry reached inside of the nappy bag and brought out a little container of rusks, knowing that this was what JJ wanted. Coulson had mimicked Harry as Sarah had finished her bottle, sitting the little girl up and rubbing gently at her back until she let out a burp that was just as impressive as her brother’s, if not more so. Harry was thrilled that he didn’t have a dainty, prissy daughter, at least not yet, she was still trying to compete with her brothers. 

“Is she okay to go on the floor?” Coulson asked hesitantly as he watched JJ crawl over to the glass wall that looked out over the training area, pulling himself up so that he could get a better view, banging his rusk on the glass. 

“Yeah,” Harry said, digging out another rusk for his daughter who crawled over and sat back on her legs, moving her hand from her mouth and out towards Harry, repeating the motion several times. The little girl was far less vocal than her brother, she knew all the words that JJ did, but he would usually speak for her, she had no need to use her words. “Ta,” Harry encouraged, wanting to hear her say it before he handed over the baby biscuit. 

“Ta,” Sarah said, smiling up at him, drool coating her chin from where her bottom two front teeth were trying to push through. She was going to have a set of four soon, her top two having already made their appearance. Harry watched proudly as Sarah took her rusk and crawled over to where her brother was standing and she too pulled herself up using the glass. “Dada,” she said, turning to look at Harry, pointing through the window to where Steve was sparing with a teenage girl who looked determined. 

“Teda,” JJ said with a little laugh, “Teda,” he said again as Harry came over and knelt behind them to see what they were looking at. He could see Teddy going one on one with an older, rugged looking man whom he recognized from the profiles he had looked over for Fury and Coulson. Grant Ward had an impressive S.H.I.E.L.D. resume to say the least, however there was something about him that Harry didn’t quite like. 

“Teddy and Daddy,” Harry said with a nod, “they’re practising,” he said, thinking that telling the two six month olds that they were fighting would not be the best idea. He didn’t want to scare his children, in truth he didn’t even want JJ or Sarah watching this but he was glad that he was here to see Teddy’s first day. 

“Dada,” Sarah said tearfully, not liking that she couldn’t go to Steve. She had always been a Daddy’s girl, there had been a time when she was a lot younger when she wouldn’t go to sleep unless she was in her Daddy’s arms but that had been something they had had to stop fairly quickly. They were fine with the twins needing each other for comfort and to sleep but not to solely rely on one parent being there. 

“It’s okay,” Harry said, trying to sound comforting, “we’ll see Daddy soon,” he said, giving his daughter a kiss to her cheek. Sarah, however, was not convinced by this, her eyes watering, tears threatening to fall down her rosy cheeks. JJ had flumped down on to his nappy covered bottom, pushing his rusk into his mouth, drooling over it, using his two little teeth to scrape some of the soggy biscuit into his mouth. 

A rather loud, wet sound coming from JJ’s nappy, followed quickly by a rather foul smell had Harry and Coulson’s nose wrinkling in disgust. Phil had been more than happy to sit back and watch the young children and not take any part in what they were doing, Harry more than had it handled, he was just not impressed by the stink emitting from the little boy’s bottom. 

“Joseph-James,” Harry said, gagging a little one the smell, “what has your Daddy been feeding you?” he asked his son as he scooped him up and went to fetch a nappy to change him. However, Sarah had become increasingly more distressed at not being able to reach Steve or to get his attention and now that Harry was otherwise occupied she was getting more and more upset. “Sarah, it’s okay, love. Give me a moment, sweetheart,” Harry said, glancing over his shoulder and almost dying of shock when she wasn’t where she had been a moment before. 

“Umm,” Phil said, his eyes wide in shock, “Harry… do your children have abilities?” he asked, not knowing what else to say or do. He had seen the little girl, crying loudly, suddenly disappear and reappear on the other side of the glass. It was unlike anything he had seen before and he had seen plenty. 

“Sarah!” Harry shouted. “Phil, watch JJ,” he said in a panic as he spotted his darling little girl in the training room, crawling at speed towards her Daddy, who had had no idea that his daughter was there and in a fair amount of danger as some of the new trainee’s had been given various weapons. 

It was perhaps fortunate that the weapons were only being used in target practice against the walls and not in one to one fights. It was Ward who noticed the young girl first, stopping what he was doing instantly and heading straight for her, recognising who she was. He had seen one of the new recruits getting a little cocky with some nunchucks and he was going about it all wrong, his technique sloppy. He was showing off to one of the other girls and not paying any attention to what he was doing or anything going on around him, including the small baby crawling towards him in search of her Daddy. 

Grant dived in front of the little girl as the teenager accidentally let the nunchucks slip from his hands, the weapon smacking directly into Ward’s back as he scooped up the young child into his arms as Natasha blew a whistle, having noticed that something wasn’t right with the group. Clint was the first on the scene, taking a hysterically screaming Sarah from Grant as Harry arrived looking panicked. Harry had seen the whole thing and he thought that his heart was going to stop when he saw the nunchucks heading for his little girl, he was rather grateful for Grant’s quick thinking. 

“What on earth,” Steve said, finally joining the group, his eyes going wide as he saw his daughter in Clint’s arms and Harry stood in the middle of the gathered group. “Weren’t you watching her?” he asked angrily, turning on Harry. “What is she doing in here!?” he demanded, taking the screaming child into his arms, shushing her as he rocked her gently, cradling her close to his chest. 

“Lunchtime,” Natasha shouted, gathering the rest of the trainees together, forcing them from the room as Harry glared at Steve accusingly, his temper ready to explode at what his fiancé had said. Teddy was ushered from the room with the other trainee’s though he was trying desperately to get to the rest of his family, wanting to see what had happened and to make sure that his siblings were alright.

“I was watching her,” Harry snarled back, “we were in the observation room with Phil and JJ, she apparated herself in here because she wanted you!” He honestly couldn’t believe that Steve was blaming him for this when there had been nothing that he could have done. As soon as he had realised what had happened he had sprung into action to protect her. 

“Sorry,” Steve said with a sigh, realising that he probably shouldn’t have snapped at Harry the way that he had and not wanting a full blown argument with his fiancé in front of the others. Neither of them were prepared for either of the twins having abilities, neither Sarah nor JJ had shown any signs of it before today. Steve turned to Ward and smiled at him. “I want to thank you for what you did, you saved her from a rather serious injury,” the super soldier said, holding Sarah close to him. 

“No problem,” Ward said, looking at the little girl with interest. There had been so many rumours going around S.H.I.E.L.D. about the fact that Captain America having settled down with the newest Avenger, who had somehow given the super soldier children. Because of the nature of the pregnancy no one knew what to believe there were so many stories floating around; however, Grant was now seeing it with his own two eyes, he couldn’t not believe it. Captain America didn’t have the ability to teleport, that was something that had to have come from Harry. 

“Dada,” Sarah gurgled from the crook of Steve’s neck where she had calmed down considerably, only slightly grizzling now. Harry came forward and pressed himself into Steve’s side, one hand coming up to rest against his daughter's back, rubbing soothing circles there, wanting her to know that he was there for her too.

“Where’s JJ?” Steve asked after placing a kiss to the top of Sarah’s head that was covered in soft dark brown hair. He was fairly happy that Harry had not brought their youngest son into the training room when he had come running after Sarah, however, that did beg the question of where he was. 

“Phil has him,” Harry said gently, nuzzling into the little girl, relieved that she was alright. He had completely panicked when he had seen Sarah in the training room, he had never been so scared in all of his life, which, considering his life, was saying something. 

\-------------x 

Teddy hadn’t really gelled with the other trainees that were present for the summer training program, he was the youngest of them all by six years and everyone thought that he was only there with them because he was the Godson to Captain America and Blackbird. Teddy hadn’t had the opportunity to prove himself to them yet and he wasn’t really making the effort to speak to any of them either, though that was more to do with the others and their attitudes than him. 

“Fag,” one of the older boys said, knocking into the back of the ten year old, almost sending him to the floor with the force of it. They were all waiting in line for their packed lunches, Teddy more towards the back, wanting to keep himself to himself. There was a small group of teenagers that just wouldn’t leave him alone, two boys and a girl and they were rather content to taunt him. 

“You don’t belong here,” the girl hissed in his ear and again Teddy did nothing, remaining where he was, stood very still. He had his wand concealed in a special holder up his sleeve, something that Harry had gifted to him when he knew that he would be coming into the muggle world and more importantly into S.H.I.E.L.D.. 

“Little freak,” the taller of the two boys said, tugging rather forcefully on a tuft of bubblegum pink hair. This was enough for Teddy, there was only so much that he was going to put up with before he showed them exactly what he was capable of. There was one thing that he just wouldn’t abide by and that was being called a freak. His hair going a dark red with his temper, the ten year old turned and glared up at the boy who had pulled his hair. 

“Back off,” he said with a snarl; there might have been a whole six years between them but Teddy wasn’t afraid of them. The teenager that he was confronting now was a whole head taller than he was but he wasn’t going to back down from a fight. If these idiots were going to underestimate him then that was their problem. 

“Are you going to make me?” the boy asked, a satisfied smirk on his face. He had got exactly what he wanted, having riled Teddy up enough to get a reaction. He knew that he had nothing to worry about, the younger boy was tiny in comparison to him and he had his two friends backing him up as well. He was going to rather enjoy putting Teddy in his place and make it well known that he didn’t belong here. 

“Push me and you’ll find out,” Teddy hissed back. Harry had told him to be careful and to avoid using magic if he could but he wasn’t going to allow these idiots to push him around. Despite what they were saying he had every right to be there and he was going to prove that to them one way or another. Teddy knew that it was likely that he was going to get into serious trouble with his Godfather for it later but he wasn’t going to be seen to be a pushover, he couldn’t, not if he was going to be a fully fledged member of S.H.I.E.L.D..

“The little boy wants to play,” the taller of the boys said. Teddy was almost wishing that he had bothered to learn their names so he knew who he was about to hurt. The three of them were grinning, more than a little happy that they managed to goad the smaller boy into a fight, thinking they were going win easily. 

Teddy had completely tensed up, prepared for an attack. The tallest boy that had pulled his hair, went for him first, swinging for him but as Teddy was so much smaller than him, the ten year old was able to duck out of the way, using the levitation spell that Harry had taught him to force his attacker up, off the ground and on to the ceiling. Harry had been tutoring him in magic outside of school when his homework was done so that he would be in a good position when he started his magical education. 

“Anyone else?” Teddy asked, keeping the boy pressed against the ceiling, as Natasha came over to see what was going on. She had thought that the trainees were responsible enough not to need constant supervision over their designated lunch time but apparently she had been wrong to assume this. They were not coming across as mature as she would have hoped for them to be. Logically she knew they were teenagers and had not had the upbringing or the training that she had had, however, if they had any hope of surviving in S.H.I.E.L.D. then they were going to have to grow up fast. 

“Teddy, put Ben down,” she said with a sigh, looking a little amused at the situation. She knew Teddy rather well at this point and wasn’t going to tell him off if he was just protecting himself. He was certainly not the kind of person who would attack first and ask questions later. If Teddy was fighting then he was going to be defending himself, Natasha had no doubt on that. 

“He attacked us!” the girl said snidely, thinking that at the very least they could get the ten year old in trouble. The fact that he could do something that wasn’t strictly normal didn’t surprise any of the onlookers. After what had happened in New York nothing was going to surprise them. The battle of New York was one of the reasons that they were all here, they wanted to fight for their country. 

“Teddy,” Natasha said, turning to look at the ten year old who was lowering the boy called Ben down to the ground, though not being overly gentle with it. 

“Sorry, Auntie Natasha,” Teddy said, looking at her with a smile on his face, one that was returned. “I don’t think I’m very hungry anymore, can I go and see my Dads?” he asked. 

“You’re not kicking him out?” this question coming from the boy who Teddy had not levitated on to the ceiling and he sounded outraged. It was all Teddy could do not to laugh at him, and the girl looked about as angry as her friend sounded. Natasha just looked as if she was at the end of her tether dealing with these adolescents. 

“You may,” Natasha said to Teddy with a nod of her head, “training room in twenty minutes though,” she added as Teddy grinned at her broadly, knowing better than to hug her when they were in public, she had a reputation to uphold after all.


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rocky relationship between Harry and Steve continues as they get married.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's taken a while but real life has taken over a little bit. However here is part two of the Intermission chapter.

Blackbird and Chameleon: The Intermission - Part Two

After the surprise that had been Sarah using her magic to reach her Daddy during the training session, Harry had been reluctant to take the twins back to the Triskelion. The alternative though had seen him on his own in their large home with no one but the twins for company. Since moving to America Harry had not made any friends aside from those that were Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and they all had their jobs to do. 

Harry felt entirely alone here, especially with Steve and Teddy at the special training centre. He yearned for home and for the friends he had there, as much as he loved his children and loved spending every waking moment with them, it was hard to do it alone. He knew that he shouldn’t complain, he had an adoring fiancé who loved him and he loved back, he had three wonderful children who were all extremely talented but that didn’t make him any less lonely. 

When Fury had approached him it had given Harry a sense of purpose again and now he knew that that was what he needed. He was not meant to be sat at home minding his children, he needed more than that, he wanted adrenaline, excitement. He wanted to go back to being an Auror or a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent again. Of course he couldn’t help but feel guilty about this, as if his children weren’t enough, which of course they were but he didn’t want to just be a mother, he needed to be more than that. 

Unbeknown to Steve, Harry had made arrangements to come in and see Phil again; Harry wanted to talk to him in more detail about his plans to form a team. He wanted in on it as more than just a consultant. It was unfortunate that he had to take the twins, but he didn’t have anyone that he trusted enough to look after them. It had been just over two weeks since he had last been to the Triskelion and the only reason he had left the house was to go to the supermarket and to take the children to the park. 

“Harry,” Phil greeted as Harry walked up to the Triskelion entrance. He had walked from his home, it wasn’t too far, and as it had been a nice day, Harry had rather enjoyed the walk and it had worked wonders in sending his two children off to sleep. They had chosen their home very specifically so that Steve could be close to work but if Harry or their children needed him then he could be there in a hurry. Steve had already missed the birth of his children, he had been determined that he wasn’t going to miss anything else. 

“Hey, Phil, how are you?” Harry said, keeping one hand on the pushchair as he came round to embrace his friend in a brief hug. The two of them had spoken only briefly over the two weeks since Harry had been there last, there had been a vigilante attack on a man who had had questionable morals, Coulson had thought Harry might want to look into; however, with Steve busy, Harry had not been able to find anyone to look after the twins and so Phil had had to send another agent. So far they had come back with nothing. 

“Well,” Phil responded, motioning towards the training centre, indicating that this was where they were heading, “I’ve been watching young Teddy. He is rather impressive for a ten year old, he’s running rings around the other trainees.” 

“There hasn’t been any more trouble after the first day?” Harry asked as he angled the pushchair and started to head towards the training centre. Harry had been told about the three bullies that had targeted Teddy and he hadn’t been happy about it, though Natasha had told him that the ten year old had handled the situation perfectly. 

“No,” Phil said with a small smile on his face, “strangely enough they’ve all been rather respectful of him since the scene that was caused in the canteen. It was rather impressive,” Coulson said as the two of them reached the training centre. Harry wanted to see for himself the progress that Teddy was making, which was why he had suggested they have their discussion here rather than in the Triskelion itself. 

“I can’t wait to see him in action today,” Harry said as Phil held the door open for him. He knew that the twins were going to be awake soon and wanting feeding. 

“I thought you knew,” Phil said, his brow furrowed in confusion. He had had no idea that Harry had not been told that because of Teddy’s rather unique abilities and the promise that he had shown while he had been training, the ten year old had been selected to help on an assignment. They couldn’t have sent in an adult because the target was a child herself. 

“Thought I knew what?” Harry asked, turning and looking at Phil accusingly. He had no idea what Coulson thought he knew but now that he knew he was being kept in the dark, Harry wanted to know what it was that was being hidden from him. Whatever it was he knew that he wasn’t going to like it, especially not if it involved Teddy. 

“There was a special mission and we needed someone young and out of all the trainee’s here, Teddy was the one who was selected. He was the best available, Steve said that he would tell you,” Phil said, absolutely horrified that Harry had not been informed of this mission. He had honestly never thought that Steve would hide something of this magnitude from Harry. 

“What kind of mission?” Harry asked angrily. He could hardly contain his rage at the fact that Steve had failed to tell him that he had sanctioned their ten year old son going on any kind of mission. Knowing S.H.I.E.L.D. as he did, Harry didn’t think that it was going to be an easy or risk-free mission and he didn’t feel right knowing that Teddy was out there. 

“I’m not sure…” Phil began to say, casting a glance to the pushchair holding Sarah and JJ, unsure if he should share any information. He didn’t want to see Harry rush off into an unknown situation at the drop of a hat, putting himself and the twins in danger. 

“You said yourself that I was meant to have been told,” Harry snapped irritably, “please just tell me where my Godson is,” he argued desperately. Logically he knew that he couldn’t do anything, not when he had his two babies with him, not to mention if he did make a move then he could potentially put Teddy in even more danger than he was already in. 

“I’ll take you to Steve,” Coulson said with a sigh, “I think that he needs to be the one to tell you what is going on,” he said, hating that he had been the one to break this to Harry. It should never have happened like this, he was angry that Harry hadn’t been kept informed of what Teddy was getting up to. Phil might not have been a family man himself but he couldn’t condone what Steve and Fury had done by not telling Harry.

“I think that that would be best,” Harry responded curtly. He wasn’t angry at Coulson, it wasn’t his fault that this had happened. Harry was only grateful that he had told him now, even though it was a little late, however he was extremely angry with Steve, who not only had sent their ten year old into a mission without consulting him, he had also not gone with him to keep an eye on him and to keep him safe. 

It was taking a lot for Harry to keep hold of the last threads of his temper as he followed Coulson towards the room where the training had been taking place the last time he had been there. He wanted to rant and rave and scream at someone for letting this happen, but he also wanted to make sure that anger was directed at the right person and not at Coulson, because at the moment it felt like Agent Coulson was pretty much the only man being upfront with him. 

“Woah,” a man said as he stepped out of the training room and almost collided with a rather angry Harry. Ward had not been expecting to see either Coulson or the angry young man as he had left to go to the little boys’ room. 

“Steve still in there?” Harry asked and Grant nodded, feeling a little confused about what was going on. He looked to Coulson who shook his head, warning Ward not to say anything. “Phil, please keep an eye on Sarah and JJ, I don’t particularly want them to see this.” 

“I’ve got them,” Coulson assured him, just hoping that the twins would stay asleep and that Sarah wouldn’t do that trick she had done last time. But it was quite obvious that there would be no stopping Harry now and at least this way he could try to keep the twins safe.

“What’s going on?” Ward asked, as he watched Harry storm through the doors into the training arena. “Should he really be going in there?”

“Harry will be fine, it is probably Rogers we should worry about,” Coulson told him, moving over to one of the large windows into the room so he could at least watch what was going on just in case, making sure that he pulled the pushchair along with him, he wasn’t going to be taking any chances with these two little ones. “Think our newest recruits are about to get a demonstration on how to handle a Super Solider.” 

“Isn’t he a super soldier?” Ward asked as he too moved to the large windows so that he could see what was going on. He had heard the stories of Blackbird and of course he knew the legend of Captain America. It seemed that he was now going to get a first hand view of what the two of them were capable of. 

Through the window he could see Harry striding towards Captain America, the trainees starting to notice his presence and muttering amongst themselves, wondering what was going on. He couldn’t hear what it was that Harry shouted but Rogers looked both surprised and a little alarmed as he turned towards the smaller enraged man.

“Does Rogers look nervous to you?” Ward asked Coulson curiously. There were not many who were a match for Captain America, and he would not have believed the little Brit one of them, but now he was second guessing that assessment.

“Blackbird is not a man to be underestimated,” Phil said as a small noise sounded from the lower seat in the pushchair. “He is a valuable agent for this organisation with extraordinary abilities, just because he doesn’t look like a match for Steve, doesn’t mean that he can’t take him.” 

Ward looked suitably impressed as Harry threw the first punch and Steve, looking entirely taken aback by it, blocked the blow but only just. He only moved to defend himself as Harry lashed out at him but he never made a move to retaliate, only defend himself as Harry shouted and hit out at him. The small noise in the pushchair, however, escalated from a small whimper to a cry as JJ made himself known.

“Are you going to deal with that?” Ward asked, not taking his eyes off the escalating fight between the two men. Children made him rather uncomfortable and even if he was rather interested in these particular two that still didn’t mean that he had any desire to get closer to them than was necessary. 

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Phil said nervously as he knelt down, unclipped JJ from his car seat and picked him up, trying not to show the little boy where his parents were, remembering all too well what Sarah had done the last time they had been here. He didn’t want JJ getting the same idea, copying his sister and putting himself in the middle of the rather violent fight that his parents were having. The problem was that JJ’s crying had also stirred Sarah, who didn’t like that her brother was getting more attention than her. 

“Da,” Sarah screeched from inside her car seat, straining against the straps to get out. 

“Where is their mother?” Ward asked, looking at Sarah curiously, he couldn’t help but wonder how it was that two agents of S.H.I.E.L.D had come to have two children with such remarkable talents. He was certainly very interested in the two young children and their abilities. 

“Harry’s their mother, as I said, he has extraordinary abilities, now please do me a favour and pick her up will you,” Coulson said as he tried valiantly to sooth JJ as his sister cried out to be picked up as well. She really didn’t like it when her brother got more attention than she did. 

“He’s a guy though,” Grant said as he did as Coulson had asked him, unclipping Sarah from her car seat and picking her up. This did very little to calm the young girl, however, as she continued to screech unhappily for her Da who was in no position to answer his daughter's cries, too busy dealing with her irate mother. 

“An extraordinary one,” Phil said as he tried to sooth the young boy in his arms, he had no idea what he was meant to do with the two upset children or what they needed. He had no idea what he was supposed to do to make them stop crying. 

“So those two are their natural parents?” Ward asked motioning to the fighting pair in the training room, seemingly impressed as he surveyed the sobbing girl with more interest now. If the twins were the byproduct of both Captain America and Blackbird then they were extremely valuable. He had been watching Teddy very carefully, knowing that he was a valuable asset to have on side, but he was slightly less valuable now that he knew about these two. 

“Yes,” Phil said, still struggling with the crying child in his arms, the noise of it starting to trigger a headache as he went for their changing bags to see if there was anything inside that might stop the incessant screaming. 

\----------x

“Our son!” Harry shouted. “He’s our son, you bastard, and you let him go on a mission, alone!” Steve simply continued to block each blow that Harry dealt to him as he yelled at him. The super soldier didn’t know what to say in response, he had known that it was a bad idea not to tell Harry but in all honesty he had been a little scared about how his fiancé would react. Clearly he had been right about that at least. 

“Technically he’s your Godson,” Steve said without really thinking, then realising just how that had sounded, he very quickly tried to rectify the situation, “and he’s more than capable of taking care of himself. The last two weeks here have shown me that.” 

“He’s ten years old!” Harry raged back, not able to fully believe that Steve had allowed their son to do something like this. The super soldier trusted S.H.I.E.L.D. a lot more than Harry ever could, especially when it came to the safety of his children.

“He wanted to go, Harry. It was his choice to make and I just supported him, I thought you would understand that.” Steve knew that he couldn’t really justify what he had done, though it had been Teddy’s decision, he just hadn’t made any move to expressly forbidden him to go. Not telling Harry was where the trouble was, he knew that was where he had gone wrong, but he had known that Harry would have said no without even stopping to think and Steve had wanted to give Teddy this chance. “I heard about the things you did when you were not much older than him.”

“And they nearly killed me!” Harry shouted in frustration. He had at the very least stopped hitting Steve now but the two of them were shouting at one another in the middle of the training room with all of the trainees plus Clint watching them have their domestic. 

“Maybe he’s stronger than that, he’s had training, you never did and he has Natasha with him,” Steve said and these words only made Harry scream at him in rage, raising his fist and punching his fiancé again. 

“How dare you!” Harry raged as Steve once again only blocked the punches that Harry threw. He didn’t care how angry they were at one another, he wasn’t prepared to fight physically with Harry, though clearly the feeling wasn’t mutual. “You know how much that fucked me up! How dare you say that Teddy is stronger because he’s had some training!” 

“I know,” Steve said softly, reaching for Harry to try and calm him, “but things are different for Teddy. He isn’t alone, it isn’t him against the world and at the end of the day he comes home to us, his family,” he pointed out. 

“Some fucking family,” Harry griped, still looking furious. He didn’t care that Teddy was coming home to them at the end of the day, that only made it worse, it meant that his Godson had lied to him too, at the very least he had banded together with Steve to not tell him the truth and that hurt Harry a lot. 

The mention of their family triggered something for Steve though, and he looked behind his fiancé with concern. “Wait, where are the twins?” he asked, panicking a little. He knew that Harry wouldn’t have trusted anyone to take care of them and then he realised that Harry wasn’t even meant to be here today. For a brief second, Steve thought that something had happened to the twins and Harry had come to get him but as there was no worry in Harry’s eyes, only anger, it calmed Steve a little. 

“Oh so them you worry about, guess that’s because they are yours by blood,” Harry snapped; he was so angry with the way Steve was acting. The two of them were supposed to be getting married in twelve days and right now Harry really wasn’t sure that he wanted to go through with it. 

"That's not fair and you know it,” Steve argued back, “I have been nothing but a great Dad to that kid, I love him."

“Not enough to stop him going off at some suicide mission at ten years old!” 

“It isn’t a suicide mission,” Steve said firmly. “I wouldn’t let him go anywhere that he’d be hurt, he’s gone to recruit another unique individual for the Index. She’s eleven and scared, we thought someone her age would help her relax a little.” Steve was trying his very best to explain things to Harry but he knew that it was unlikely that his fiancé was going to calm down. 

It was a struggle not to say too much, there were too many people watching and listening to what they were going. Clint had not had the sense to clear the room, he was stood amongst them watching and listening just as eagerly to what was going on as any of the teenagers were. 

“And that children is why you don’t mess with either of these two,” Clint said with a grin. “Lunch time i think,” he added after taking a moment to hide his smirk. Harry sent the man a withering glare but said nothing to him, waiting in silence as the teenagers filed out of the room. Clint, however, did not go with them and very shortly they were joined by Phil and Grant who were carrying each of the twins. 

“Da,” Sarah screeched from where she was being held by a rather awkward looking Ward, who wasn’t quite sure what to do with her. Grant looked even more alarmed when the little girl threw herself towards her Daddy and he only just managed to steady her in time to keep from dropping her. 

“It’s okay,” Steve said, coming forward and holding out his hands to take her, sighing as Sarah giggled happily at being back with her Daddy, fisting a little hand in his t-shirt, rubbing her face on his shoulder. 

“I want to know that Teddy’s safe,” Harry said as Phil handed over JJ to him. “You must have some form of contact with Nat if she’s with him.” 

“We do,” Phil said with a nod, knowing that Harry deserved this. It wouldn’t do any harm to the mission to allow Harry contact with Natasha to assure that Teddy was okay. If Steve had done what he had said that he was going to and actually told Harry what was going on then they wouldn’t be in this situation. “I’ll take you to the control room, you’ll be able to contact Black Widow from there.” 

\------------x

Harry had been pleasantly surprised when Teddy had successfully completed the mission he had set out to do with Natasha. The eleven year old girl, Misty Taylor, whom Teddy had been tasked with recruiting into S.H.I.E.L.D had been won around by the idea and after two weeks Misty had joined and not only that but her and Teddy were very close friends. In fact he couldn’t stop talking about her, which Harry thought was adorably cute. 

It was now the 31st of August 2013 and that meant only one thing to Harry and Steve, their wedding day. It had taken a lot for them to get there, a fair few arguments and Steve had solemnly sworn that he would never keep something like that from Harry again. They had mostly put their differences aside and they both wanted this so they were going through with it, despite both of them being a bundle of nerves. 

Steve was currently in a hotel with the rest of the Avengers preparing for the big day whereas Harry was at home with his three children and the entire Weasley clan, which included Hermione, Rose and newborn Hugo who had been born two months earlier on the 15th June. 

“They are eating that much solids already?” Ron asked in surprise, giving Hugo a bottle as he watched Harry spooning mashed carrots into each of the twins mouths in turn. Harry was wearing the suit that he was due to marry Steve in, in just two hours time and trying desperately not to get it covered in orange stains. Both Sarah and JJ were desperate to feed themselves but they only seemed to be able to make a mess. Most of the food going on the floor and in their hair rather than their mouths. 

“Because of Steve their development is a little ahead of where it should be,” Harry said with a sigh as he encouraged his fussy little girl to eat. She had been grizzling all morning because she hadn’t seen her Daddy, she wasn’t happy until she had had her morning cuddles with Steve. JJ was just sat waiting patiently for his turn to be fed, more than happy to wait, however, Sarah lacked the patience that her brother had and would scream if the food was not shovelled into her mouth quickly enough. 

“They’re what, seven months old?” Ron queried as he cradled his two month old son in his arms. Hermione had taken two year old Rose for a walk as the toddler had been becoming a little restless. Fleur had gone with her, taking four year old Dominique as well, just to get the restless ones out of the house for a while before the ceremony. The hope was that they would sleep through the important part. 

Bill was currently upstairs, wrestling with his eldest daughter, Victoire, trying to get her into her pretty dress, however she wasn’t having any of it because her mother was not there to do her hair in the way that she wanted it. Charlie wasn’t helping at all of course, he was instead laughing his head off as he held his nephew, Louis on one hip. 

Percy and Audrey had not been able to make it as their eldest daughter Molly had fallen ill but they had sent their apologies and kindest regards. Molly senior and Arthur were of course rushing around trying to make sure that everything was ready and everyone was dressed in time, organising everything that needed to be organised. Ginny was trying her best to help her mother while also supporting eight month old Dora in one arm. 

Since Christmas, Ginny and Justin had broken up and got back together several times but they had had a major falling out the day before they were due to come to America and Justin had decided not to join them and had kicked up a fuss about Ginny taking Dora. She had of course taken her anyway but Harry’s understanding of the situation was that it wasn’t great. 

“Yes,” Harry responded with a smile, ignoring Sarah’s squawks as he fed JJ another spoon of orange goo, “though developmentally they’re more nine or ten months. I know a lot of children don’t speak at all until they’re a year but these two have some basic words down now. It’s scary how quickly they grow up.” 

“Tell me about it,” Ron said with a sigh, looking down at his second child wistfully, “I can’t believe Rosie is two already, I don’t know where the time’s gone.”

“Mum, do I look alright?” Teddy asked, coming into the kitchen with his hair electric blue, matching the tie he was wearing. The ten year old look adorably cute in his black three piece suit; he had naturally been made best man by Harry and was taking the role very seriously. 

“You look like the most handsome young man I have ever seen,” Harry told him, giving his older son a warm smile before quickly feeding Sarah another spoonful when she squealed in protest about waiting. “And I am quite certain that Misty will agree,” he added, chuckling as Teddy nodded nervously before rushing out of the room again. 

“Misty?” Ron asked curiously. 

“This sweet little eleven year old girl he met at S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Harry told him. “Teddy is totally smitten, particularly with her ability to make herself invisible which is, and I quote, the most awesome wicked thing of all time.”

“Mum, mum, mum,” Teddy said as he hurried back into the room, waiting for Harry to look his way before asking, “purple hair or blue?” changing his hair to demonstrate.

“Stick with the blue,” Harry said with a laugh, “though maybe put some red highlights in there because then you’ll match Steve and me too,” he added with a laugh. The two grooms would be wearing red ties, their colour theme tying into Captain America’s uniform.

“Come on then, dear,” Molly said bustling into the room as Teddy charged back out again. “You go and finish getting yourself ready, I’ll finish up with these two little darlings,” she said with a fond smile to Sarah and JJ. The woman had countless grandchildren already but she still counted these two and Teddy as her own too. 

\------x

“If you don’t stop fidgeting you’re going to wear out that suit before you even get down the aisle,” Clint teased the obviously nervous Steve, the archer fixing his own, electric blue tie. It was a bit darker than the shade of his hair but he was still happy that he looked pretty damn good. 

“Harry is just going to rip it off him later anyway,” Tony said with a broad grin on his face. He too looked stunning in his black three piece suit and electric blue tie. Steve was really starting to wonder why he had picked these two as his best men, he would have much preferred Teddy, however, Harry had bagged him pretty quickly. 

“Oh leave him be,” Bruce said affectionately, winking at Steve, “I think it’s good that he’s finally making an honest man out of Harry,” he added with a smile, glancing over to Natasha with a lustful look in his eyes. He really had to stop thinking about her in that way. 

“It’s about time too,” Natasha said, coming into the room from the adjoining bathroom, having just put on her blue and red cocktail dress, her hair tied up in an elaborate bun. Of course she was armed, she never went anywhere without a gun, she just hoped not to have to use it. 

“Especially seeing as they have babies,” Clint said and Steve only groaned, knowing that this was only going to open up a flood gate of wit and sarcasm from Tony, who of course did not disappoint with his comments. 

“And your wedding night is not an excuse to be making more just because you’re child free,” he said with a devious smile on his face as Steve threw himself back on the bed, hands covering his face. He had no idea why he was doing this, of course he loved Harry but was that really enough to stand up in front of all their friends and family and be stared at all day and all night? He didn’t think that it was, he was really starting to wish that they had eloped in Vegas. 

“Try not to destroy the furniture,” Natasha said, “we all know how carried away the two of you can get,” she said, rather enjoying the red blush she could see starting to creep over the super soldier’s cheeks even with his hands covering the majority of his face.

“Please stop,” Steve begged, “I’m nervous enough as it is without thinking about the wedding night as well.” 

“Thinking that you won’t be able to perform?” Tony said with a cruel laugh, enjoying himself far too much. “Shall we get you something to help you out?” he asked and Steve only groaned at the suggestions. That was the one thing that he just didn’t need. 

“Never mind the wedding night,” Bruce said, preferring not to think of his two friends going at it, “if we don’t leave in the next ten minutes he’s going to be late to his own wedding.” This of course had Steve jumping to his feet at once in a panic. The last thing he needed was to not be there on time. 

\-----------x

“Your parents looked so handsome,” Misty said with a dreamy expression on her face. Her honey blond hair had been elaborately braided for the occasion, Phil had even bought her a new dress so that she could attend the wedding. 

Currently they were sat outside of the reception venue waiting for the grooms to arrive. The two of them had disappeared off in their limo while the guests had been transported to the reception venue, though there was no sign of them just yet and it had been a little while, far longer than was needed. 

“You look really pretty too,” Teddy said with a shy smile. He really liked her and he was feeling very nervous around her. Though in the back of his mind he knew that he would be going to Hogwarts in a year but that gave them a whole year if she liked him too. 

Misty couldn’t hide the blush that covered her cheeks, even though she tried to by bowing her head and looking at her shoes, it made Teddy happy to see her blush, it meant that she liked being complemented by him. “I’ve always liked the idea of weddings,” she said, glancing up and looking at him, “I’ve never been to one though.” 

“I think I have, I don’t really remember though,” Teddy said with a shrug of his shoulders. He was pretty sure that he had gone to his Aunt and Uncle’s wedding when they had got married four years previously but he had only been six at the time. 

“I don’t ever want to get married,” Misty said, “I don’t like people looking at me, all that attention is a little scary,” she said with an involuntary shudder. 

“I really like looking at you,” Teddy said, unable to look at her as he did. “When we’re older we can get married but you can be invisible so you don’t have to have anyone looking at you,” he said, looking down at his shoes, almost giving out a small yelp when Misty placed a quick kiss to Teddy’s cheek. 

“Oh look, your parents are here,” Misty said, pointing as the huge limo pulled up close to the door, the tinted windows not allowing them to see inside the vehicle. Teddy grinned happy, jumping to his feet as the door opened and Harry climbed out, promptly followed by Steve. 

“Hey, Teddy,” Harry greeted, holding out his arms and welcoming his eldest into them for a hug. “And Misty,” he added, giving the nervous looking girl a smile, before she promptly went invisible.

“What happened to your hair, dad?” Teddy asked, looking up Steve with a confused expression and causing Harry to snort in amusement as Steve hurried to straighten himself up a bit more from his slightly dishevelled state.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Harry told assured his son as the three of them headed towards the door to the reception, definitely not about to enlighten the ten year old on what the two of them had been up to. “Misty, if you’re still here, head back inside,” he said to the area in general, not having any clue where she had gone.

“She’s still here,” Teddy said as he felt someone grasp at his hand, though when he looked down there was nothing there, he knew that it had to be her. “You can stay with me,” he promised her in a whisper, as they followed Steve and Harry into the large reception room, filled with all their cheering and clapping family and friends. 

“Why don’t you go sit will Sarah and JJ,” Harry suggested to his son, nodding over in the direction of Molly, who was watching over the twins, knowing that Teddy was going to quickly get bored while he and Steve has to thank everyone for coming, and let everyone congratulate them.

\-----------x

The evening was long and filled with plenty of alcohol and merriment. Molly and Arthur had taken Sarah and JJ home with them quite early on when the twins hadn’t stopped fussing, clearly needing to go to sleep after the excitement of the day. Phil was due to take Teddy and Misty home when they got tired but currently the two youngsters were no where to be seen. 

It was something expected from Misty but it shouldn’t have been so easy for Teddy, though he could look like anyone. Harry wasn’t too worried, despite Coulson’s concerns, he trusted his Godson not to do something stupid. Plus he was far too busy dancing with Steve, the two of them having spent a lot of time on the dance floor. Harry had secretly been taking dance lessons, just to make sure that the two of them would be able to dance. 

Steve had shared his past with Harry, telling him all about Peggy and how he had never got that dance with her. Harry knew how huge it would be if he learnt how to dance for the era in which Steve had been brought up. Their first dance had been beautiful and Steve had teared up by the end of it, so happy that he had finally married the mother of his children. 

Harry couldn’t help but laugh when Percy’s eldest daughter, Molly, danced past him with an apparently invisible partner. He genuinely thought that he had drunk a little too much and was seeing things because he knew that little Molly had not been able to make it as she was poorly. Instantly Harry knew exactly who it was that had disguised himself as Molly and who ‘she’ was dancing with too.

“Is that…” Steve asked as he followed the dancing girl with his eyes, the incomplete question only making Harry laugh harder. 

“Yep, but leave them be,” Harry said, he was finding it hilariously funny that Phil was looking rather panicked at the fact he had lost his charges. 

Steve, however, was a little more concerned for the welfare of Coulson’s sanity than Harry was and didn’t hesitate to send Teddy a rather pointed glare. Though he had to admit that he did admire the confidence that the ten year old had, to be able to dance around all night as a five year old girl just to make a friend happy. He actually thought it rather sweet. 

Harry couldn’t believe how happy he felt; he had had so many doubts about going through with the wedding, especially after all the difficulties the two of them had had as a couple but he didn’t regret it now. Standing in the middle of the dance floor, in the arms of his husband, he knew that whatever happened next, he had made the right decision by marrying his super soldier. 

\-----------x

Exhausted but happy Steve had carried Harry up to their hotel room, Harry giggling all the way as he was a little light headed from all of the alcohol that he had consumed. Steve of course was completely sober, alcohol having no affect on him. Though he did rather like the giggling mass that it seemed to reduce Harry to. 

It was gone midnight on the first night that they were husband and husband and Steve couldn’t wait to consummate their marriage. It had been a long time since the two of them had had the opportunity to spend the night alone, just the two of them. Teddy was being watched by Coulson along with Misty, the two of them having thought it a great idea to have a sleepover together. Molly had both Sarah and JJ at their home, more than happy to look after the adorable seven month olds. 

“Do you think that Phil is going to survive taking care of Misty as well as Teddy for the evening?” Harry asked, biting his lip with worry. His Godson had thought that it was a wonderful idea but the two of them had been running rings around poor Phil all evening and Harry was a little concerned that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had bitten off more than he could chew with those two. 

“Yes,” Steve said in return as he lay Harry down upon the king sized bed, standing over him and undressing him with his eyes, “I’m sure that he’ll be fine but this evening, it’s all about us,” he added, smiling as he began to start undressing himself, making it perfectly clear the direction in which their evening was going to go. 

Harry couldn’t help but smile as he watched Steve undo each button with agonizing slowness. The super soldier rather enjoying the lust filled emerald eyes that were wide and full, the pupils pinpricks of black in a sea of green. The problem was that each of them had a three piece suit on and shirt, so many buttons to fiddle with and delay the inevitable. 

“Taking too long,” Harry declared, pulling his wand from the holster where he had been keeping it, with a little difficulty thanks to his tipsiness. Steve didn’t even have a chance to comment before Harry waved the wand, the magic washing over both of them and leaving them completely naked.

“That’s one way to do it,” Steve said in amusement as he knelt on the bed between Harry’s legs, pushing them apart at the knees. Harry was more than willing to accept him there, using his wand to summon the lube to them before discarding his wand to the side, not really caring where it ended up, only caring that he and his new husband spent their wedding night joined together physically. 

“There were too many buttons,” Harry said with a giggle as Steve began to kiss at the crook of his neck, nibbling gently at his skin as the younger of the two of them reached between them and grabbed hold of his husband's erection, stroking it tenderly. The super soldier groaned at the contact, knowing that he was so turned on that he wasn’t going to last long, especially if Harry kept touching him in that way. 

“Slow,” Steve said with a gasped breath, feeling his belly start to tighten with the impending orgasm and he didn’t want to come now, he wanted to come when he was inside of his husband. Removing Harry’s hand, Steve pinned them both to the bed and kissed him for all he was worth, a kiss that left them both breathless, gasping for air. Harry arched his back, pushing his erection up to rub against Steve’s, the super soldier just smiling at the man he loved, needing a moment to maintain his control. 

“I need you,” Harry said, hands suddenly freed as Steve began to kiss his way down Harry’s chest, sucking and nibbling in all the places that he knew drove his younger husband wild. 

Steve paused, long enough to look up Harry’s body, and for his husband to realise that he had stopped and meet his eye. “You’ve got me,” he promised, “till death do us part” he added, holding Harry’s gaze as he continued to kiss his way down Harry’s body.

“Yes! Though, just because we have forever,” Harry gasped out, his back arching up, trying to get more from his husband, “doesn’t mean you have to tease for me that long.” Steve chuckled deeply but didn’t pick up the pace, enjoying the wanton, desperate moans that Harry was giving. 

Now that they were both fully undressed, the super soldier found himself face-to-face with the proof of just how much his husband wanted him right now, and so teasingly licked his way up the underside of Harry’s cock. Steve knew exactly the right places to touch, caress and even tickle at his lover to get the reactions that he loved and with Harry a little drunk it was even better to hear him giggle and groan in pleasure almost simultaneously. 

“What if I like it?” Steve asked, rather enjoying just how crazy he was driving his lover. Without any warning he took Harry’s erection into his mouth fully, swallowing around it before starting to bob his head up and down in Harry’s lap, sucking on the hard length for all he was worth. 

“I definitely like that,” Harry giggled a little breathlessly, his fingers threading into Steve’s hair, gasping as the delicious sensation of his husband’s lips wrapped around his length. He squirmed, giggling again as Steve’s fingers brushed over his hip, tickling him again. 

Taking his lover’s erection all the way to the back of his throat, suppressing his gag reflex, Steve swallowed again and this time it had the delightful consequence of Harry letting out a gasp of air before emptying his load into Steve’s willing mouth. Though the super soldier still did not relent, continuing to suck at Harry’s cock, wanting to keep him hard, one hand moving from the younger man’s hip to his entrance while the other reached for the lube. 

Harry was so lost in his post orgasmic haze that he wasn’t expecting for the intrusion to his entrance until Steve had one finger slicked with lube and was already pushing inside of him. arching his back off the bed, Harry could make no other sounds other than garbled nonsense, too overwhelmed with feeling as his husband began to stretch him while still sucking on his hardening erection. 

“Steve,” Harry gasped out, the only word that had made sense in the last few minutes and it had the super soldier chuckling in amusement around the cock in his mouth. In response to his lover’s moans and pleadings, Steve added a second finger. 

The super solider spread his digits, stretching his husband open for him, adding a third finger after only a few thrusts. Harry groaned, pushing down against the intrusion, welcoming the slight burn, the feeling of being filled. But it still wasn’t enough, even having already come once, he was impatient to have Steve inside him, more of him than just a few fingers.

“I‘m ready, Steve, please,” Harry moaned, tugging on his husband’s hair, pulling Steve up off his cock so that he could look him in the eye. “Fuck me,” he ordered, grinning widely, before giggling a little at the way the super soldier's pupils dilated with lust.

Steve did always love hearing his husband giving him orders, it was a huge turn on for him. The time that he had taken to pleasure and prepare Harry had given him the chance to calm himself down enough to ensure that fucking his new husband senseless was going to last more than two minutes. 

Removing his fingers from inside of his lover, Steve drew himself level with Harry, holding himself above him though his arms were already trembling a little. It was taking a lot of effort not to just surge inside of his husband without being careful at all, he just wanted to be inside of the other man. 

“I love you,” Steve said, his voice soft and breathy, struggling to maintain his control, something that he always tended to struggle with when he was with Harry. It felt important for him to say it now, regardless of the fact that Harry was a little drunk and was likely to have one hell of a hangover in the morning. It was still their wedding night and Steve wanted no doubts that that was how he felt. 

“I should hope so too,” Harry said with a smile playing on his lips. “You just married me after all,” he added, reaching a hand up to run his fingers through his husband's hair, “I love you too,” he said after a few moments when he realised that Steve had been a little hurt that he hadn’t said it back. 

“You better,” Steve said, leaning forward to steal a kiss, his hand between them to line himself up with Harry’s entrance, his husband’s legs wrapping around his middle in an attempt to pull him inside.

Harry moaned into the kiss as he felt Steve’s cock pushing into him, stretching him open despite his husband preparations. His arms were wrapped around the super soldier's shoulders, holding him close as Steve gently thrust forward, burying himself deeper into Harry’s body.

\------x

The next morning Harry woke up with a dull ache in the small of his back, a happy feeling in his stomach knowing that he was officially the husband of Steve Rogers. However that happy feeling in the pit of his stomach was soon overtaken by nausea as the alcohol that Harry had drunk the previous evening caught up with him.

Trying not to wake Steve but failing miserable, Harry threw himself out of the king size hotel bed and dashed for the bathroom. He only just reached the toilet in time before he emptied the pitiful and very liquid contents of his stomach into the porcelain bowl. Falling to his knees as Steve came in to see if he was alright, Harry continued to dry heave until there was nothing left in him and he slumped onto the cold tiled floor. 

Steve could do nothing but sigh; he knew that his new husband had drunk far too much the night before, however, he just hadn’t had the heart to put a stop to it, after all it was their wedding night and they had a lot of reasons to celebrate. Sitting down beside Harry, Steve pulled the younger man on to his lap and held him there. He loved this man, there was no doubt about that and he couldn’t regret marrying him but he was a little concerned about the drinking.

There had been no need to drink quite as much as he had and Steve knew that Harry had history with drinking too much to cope. The Super Soldier just had to hope that his new husband didn’t fall back on all of his old habits. Alcohol was one thing but bedding as many blonds as possible was something else entirely and would end their marriage very quickly, something Steve really didn’t want to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please take the time to leave me a comment and let me know what you thought.


	3. Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next installment of Harry and Steve's story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this took so long to get out to everyone. Real life has been hectic and I'm juggling a lot (including getting up for work at 4am!!) I have finally found myself a better job with more reasonable hours and I finally found the time to sit and finish this chapter, with the help of BickyMonster as always. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter.

It had been a long haul struggle but Misty had finally convinced Coulson to enroll her in the same school as Teddy. Phil had been rather reluctant to allow it but the two of them were close and if they were going to get the young girl to do as she was told then giving her this was a good way to gain her cooperation. Teddy just hadn’t had the heart to tell her that this was going to be his last year there. Next September he would be eleven and therefore off to Hogwarts. 

Harry was hoping for a trouble free year, however, that illusion was quickly shattered at the end of the first month when the school phoned Harry at home. He wasn’t thrilled to have to pack the twins into the car and drive them all to the school, to where Teddy and Misty were sat in the Principal's office looking rather sheepish. Also in the office with them was Coulson, who was stood, towering over the youngsters looking very formal and stern. 

“Do I want to know?” Harry asked as he maneuvered his double pushchair into the small office. Fortunately for him the twins were having their mid-afternoon nap, though Harry knew that it wouldn’t be long until they were awake and wanting feeding. 

“Please, come in, Mr Rogers,” the Principle said rather solemnly. Harry did as he was told, shutting the door behind him, knowing that this was a serious matter. 

“What have you two done?” Harry asked as he looked from Teddy, to Misty, to Coulson. He was more than a little concerned about what could have happened, especially with the fact that Teddy was a wizard. Not that Harry allowed Teddy to bring his wand into school, that would have been asking for trouble. 

“There was an altercation,” Coulson said, keeping himself very calm and in control as he always did, his face free of all emotion. He had arrived before Harry and the principle had informed him of what had happened after a little bit of convincing, as the principle had wanted to wait for Harry to arrive first. Coulson was a busy man and he didn’t have time to wait around, he was in the middle of assembling his team and his plane was almost finished, he didn’t have the time to be dealing with Misty and her insubordinance. 

Harry groaned, looking Teddy all over but not seeing a single scratch on him. After the summer of S.H.I.E.L.D. training that Teddy had had, Harry wasn’t exactly surprised, however, he was a little confused as to why Misty was here as well. “I think you had better start explaining, young man,” Harry said with a sigh, sitting down on the only vacant chair in the room. He wasn’t feeling great and if he hadn’t sat down then it was likely he was going to fall down. He had been so rushed off his feet with the demands of the twins that he had forgotten to have anything to eat all day.

Steve had left early for training, or at least that was what he had said as he had walked out of the bedroom while Harry had still been half asleep at the crack of dawn. It was a habit of Steve’s, disappearing off to train, or do work for S.H.I.E.L.D.; Harry had given up asking for details and just let his husband get on with it, though he wasn’t particularly happy about it. 

“Brandon called Misty a freak and tripped her over,” Teddy said, launching into a full on explanation barely stopping to catch his breath as he tried to justify what he had done. “He’s been picking on her since school started and it’s making her miserable.” 

“So…” Harry coaxed, wanting to know what had happened afterwards that had lead him being called into the school. He very much doubted that Teddy had taken what had happened lightly, especially not considering the strong bond that the two youngsters had. 

“I hit him,” Teddy said, hanging his head in shame at this fact. He didn’t exactly regret doing what he did, Brandon had deserved it, in fact he had deserved it for a very long time. Teddy did understand, however, that he had probably gone a little bit too far. 

“Hitting him is perhaps an understatement,” the Principle said with heavy disapproval. “The boy in question, Brandon, has been taken to the hospital with two broken ribs, a broken nose and a severe concussion.” 

“Oh, Teddy,” Harry said with disappointment, looking at his Godson with a frown. When he had agreed to the S.H.I.E.L.D. training he had never thought that Teddy would be irresponsible enough to use it against regular students. 

“What is going to happen?” Coulson asked, just as disapproving as Harry, though just in his own way. He didn’t think that his specialised training would lead to this. They had put a lot of emphasis on using the abilities that they had been caught with responsibility. 

“I am sure you understand the seriousness of Teddy’s actions,” the Principle said sternly, and Harry nodded, Teddy’s eyes fixed firmly on the ground in front of him. “I am afraid I really have no choice but to suspend him.”

“What!” Teddy exclaimed, looking up at the Principle in outrage; he didn’t want to miss his time at school with Misty. He went to say something more on the matter but was cut off by a serious look from Harry. Harry wasn’t happy about the suspension either but he could understand that the Principle had little choice; Teddy had caused serious bodily harm to another student and they were lucky that the police weren’t involved. He was sure that Coulson would have had a part to play in that and he couldn’t have been more grateful. 

“I don’t want to be at school without Teddy,” Misty said at once, the normally nervous and quiet girl speaking up for the first time in their presence. It was a shock to all of them, even Coulson, but especially the headmaster, who had been having several complaints from teachers that girl would just not contribute to her classes. “I won’t go.” 

“Misty…” Coulson said, trying not to sound too exasperated with her, “you need to go to school. We talked about this before, your education is important. It is why we agreed to send you here with Teddy in the first place.” The young girl, whom Phil had promised Fury he would take care of, was not the easiest charge. 

Misty often refused to do as she was told simply by turning invisible, she rarely spoke and much preferred her own company, unless Teddy was there. He seemed to give her the confidence to be around other people. This was why she had needed one on one attention; there were places that S.H.I.E.L.D sent gifted youngsters to be raised and taken care of, to make sure they didn’t stray on to the wrong side of the path, however, with Misty’s gift and background it was thought that this kind of environment would not suit her. 

“But now Teddy won’t be here,” Misty said quietly, sounding both worried and upset about this. She didn’t have to come here, Coulson couldn’t make her, all she would have to do was turn herself invisible and then they wouldn’t be able to find her to send her to school. She hadn’t found any friend’s here other than Teddy. The girls were simply horrible; they fussed over hair and make-up and Misty was more than content to just sit and read a book but the other kids had called her a nerd for it, a freak and a loser. Teddy was the only one who ever spoke to her like a normal person, even Coulson treated her like a potential superhero that needed training and she hated it. 

“Only for the next month, Miss Taylor,” the Principal said, pulling a few forms out of his desk, needing for Harry to sign the forms to make the exclusion from school official. Harry knew that Steve wasn’t going to be best pleased about this; the super soldier was strict about school work, saying that he wanted Teddy to do well and the news of the exclusion wasn’t going to go down too well, Harry was sure. 

“And the boy, Brandon, will he be punished?” Coulson asked rather formally, not happy that the girl in his care had been tormented so badly that it had ended in this way. Though, he rather admired the way that Teddy had stood up for Misty, it made him realise that he had made the right decision in allowing the two of them to go to school together. 

She might have been a rather trying young girl but she was the way she was because of what had happened to her in her past, at least that was what Coulson assumed was the case. It had taken a lot for Teddy to gain her trust when they had gone to get her. She had been living in a homeless shelter claiming that she was sixteen despite only being eleven, not having wanted the Authorities to get involved. She had still not told them anything about how she had ended up there, or where her parents were. Only Teddy seemed to know and he was as tight lipped about it as she was. 

“He will also be excluded for a month. However, seeing as he will be in the hospital for the duration of his exclusion it really won’t be that relevant,” the Principle said, his tone one of displeasure. He had wanted to expel Teddy completely for what he had done, but Phil Coulson had been adamant on the fact that that was not going to happen and it hadn’t taken too much convincing after he had shown his badge. 

“I won’t come in without Teddy,” Misty said in a huff. All she wanted was to make herself invisible but she knew that she would be in a lot of trouble if she did. Coulson had warned her that not everyone looked kindly upon those with special abilities like herself. It was one of the first things that he had drilled into her head, not even Teddy was stupid enough to use his morphing abilities in front of regular people. She felt entirely uncomfortable sitting in this office with so many people and instinctively reached out to take Teddy’s hand, gripping it tightly. 

“That is something we shall have to discuss at home,” Coulson said firmly, encouraging Misty to her feet, Harry doing the same with Teddy having just finished signing what was required of him. The twins were starting to grizzle a little in the pushchair and Harry wanted to get them all home before the little ones began full on crying. No doubt Sarah would want her Daddy, as she always did, and Steve had gone off to some S.H.I.E.L.D. training program for the day. 

“I can take Misty back to mine if you like,” Harry said, maneuvering the pushchair so that it was facing the right direction as he watched Teddy picking up his school bag, Misty doing the same, both of them staying rather close to one another, their hands still joined. “I know you must have other things to do; your team must be coming along well by now. I don’t mind looking after her for a little while.” 

“Thank you, and yes, we’ve recruited a few valuable members,” Coulson said as they left the principal's office, shutting the door behind them, Misty and Teddy trailing behind them looking miserable. This was not a conversation that Phil particularly wanted to have in the middle of a public school, however, there was no one around with it being the middle of class and he didn’t mind too much as long as it remained vague; it wasn’t often that he got to talk to Harry after all. 

“I would love to hear all about it if you want to come over for dinner later when you come to pick up Misty,” Harry suggested. “Hopefully at some point soon I can actually meet some of the team, maybe even join them on a mission too.”

“Hopefully,” Phil agreed, definitely keen to have Harry with them, knowing what an asset he would be. “And dinner would be good, thank you. Are you going to be okay with both of them?” he asked, glancing behind them to make certain that both Misty and Teddy were keeping up. The two of them were talking in hushed whispers, but following at least.

“I’ll be fine,” Harry assured him, with a laugh, “compared to Sarah when denied access to Steve, Teddy and Misty are no trouble at all.” He knew that he and Teddy would need to talk about what had happened, but he wasn’t sorry to have an excuse to put it off for a while; there were still times when he felt completely in over his head when it came to being a parent.

“She certainly loves her father,” Phil said looking fondly down into the pushchair where the little girl was grizzling unhappily, wanting food and cuddles. “She’ll make a great Agent one day, they all will,” he added, motioning subtly behind him to Misty and Teddy. He didn’t want them to hear the compliment, not when Teddy was in so much trouble at least. 

“I don’t want to think of any of them as Agents,” Harry said with a sigh as they exited the building, coming to a stop at the curb where Harry had managed to find a parking spot. “Though I suppose with me and Steve as parents it’s inevitable, isn’t it.” 

“It doesn’t have to be,” Phil said softly, his tone wise as always. “The twins will have your sense of adventure, though, I have no doubt about that.” 

“Probably,” Harry admitted. “I just hope they get some of Steve’s virtue,” he added with a sigh, “and in the end I’ll always give them the choice. I won’t dictate what they can and can’t do with their lives.” 

“I can’t come here without you,” Misty whispered to Teddy, clasping at his hand tightly in fear, glancing back towards the imposing school building. This place scared her, she had only managed to survive because of Teddy. Of course there had been a few occasions where she had turned herself invisible in the bathroom because she couldn’t cope with the teasing. 

The last time she had been in mainstream education it had been the same. She never fit in with any of the typical groups, she was always the outsider and was teased and bullied by everyone. It was why she had started just not turning up, it wasn’t like anyone had cared that she wasn’t going to school at home. As long as she wasn’t in the house during the day they hadn’t cared what she was doing. 

“Then don’t; they can’t make you,” Teddy said with a shrug. He wasn’t keen on Misty coming here without him either. These kids were cruel to outsiders and with Misty the way she was and Teddy’s strong british accent, it was fairly clear they they just didn’t belong. Without him there to keep her out of trouble Teddy was sure that Misty was going to get a rough time of it. 

“Come on, you two, in the car,” Harry said opening the car door as he started to maneuver the twins from the buggy and into the vehicle. He was forever grateful for the muggle inventing that allowed car seats to be clicked out of the pushchair and clicked into the holder in the car meaning that he didn’t have to fuss around with straps and all that nonsense. 

“You sure you’re going to be okay with the two of them?” Phil asked, watching critically as Teddy and Misty clambered into the large minivan type vehicle. It was no secret that Harry hated it, however seeing as he frequently had four children and a super solider to ferry around it had seemed like the most logical choice aside from a limo. 

“I’ll be fine,” Harry said with a smile as he watched Teddy and Misty climb into the monstrosity of a vehicle. “I’ll see you tonight, let me know when you’re coming over and I’ll make sure that tea is on the table.” 

\----------------x 

“Damn,” Harry said, as he fumbled quickly for the oven glove when he realised that the dinner was most definitely cooked, if not a little overdone, if the smells coming from the oven were any indication. He had thought that he had put it in late enough to ensure that Steve would be home before it was done, but apparently his husband was going to be too late to eat dinner with their family again. 

An involuntary shiver went down Harry’s spine as he thought about how the Dursley’s would have reacted if he had burnt their dinner. That life was now light years behind him, he was currently stuck in a different kind of hell; living in America with a man who had got him pregnant with his beautiful twin babies within the first few weeks of meeting each other and their marriage falling apart only a month after they had exchanged rings. This was never the kind of life that Harry had envisioned himself having and it made him crave the lonely existence he had had before, plenty of alcohol and even more meaningless sex. 

“Okay, Sarah,” he called out, when he heard his daughter whimpering from the room next door, where he had strapped her and her brother securely into their highchairs so that he could finish off their dinner. He could see them through the doorway, from where he was and could see that she was on the verge of a temper tantrum, slamming her little fists on the tray of her highchair. “I am sure Daddy will be home soon.”

JJ was sitting watching his sister curiously, a gummy ring to aid teething stuffed into his mouth, drool dripping from his chin. Sarah had thrown her toys to the floor, much more intent to throw a fit than to sit quietly like her brother. Coulson was upstairs trying to convince Teddy and Misty to wash up before dinner, the two of them had been mysteriously silently upstairs all afternoon but, aside from taking them some snacks up at around three, Harry hadn’t had time to check in on what they were doing, the twins running rings around him. 

Sarah had taken her first wobbly steps today and Harry couldn’t have been prouder of her. He knew that it was early for either of them to be walking, however, he had seen their development excel that of normal youngsters and he knew that it was all to do with the super serum and magic combination in their genes. He was half expecting JJ to start walking soon too, he was already confidently cruising around all of the furniture. 

Rather suddenly, as Harry was trying to plate up dinner, he felt strong arms encircle his waist and lips press against his neck. Considering the only adult in the house was Coulson, Harry couldn’t help but jump, pulling away quite quickly, turning to see who it was, praying that it wasn’t Phil.

“Steve,” Harry gasped out in relief, “for a moment there I thought you were Phil. I wasn’t expecting you home.” However, when Harry tried to move closer to his husband again, Steve backed up, looking at Harry rather suspiciously. 

“Why would Phil be trying to kiss you?” Steve demanded to know. He had been in a rather good mood when he had arrived home but that had quickly evaporated. Now he was starting to wonder if Phil had been trying it on with his husband. Judging by Harry’s reaction nothing had happened… yet. 

“Because I wasn’t expecting you home and he’s the only other adult in the house,” Harry tried to explain before he realised just how bad that sounded. “He’s here for dinner and to collect Misty, he only arrived ten minutes ago, he’s upstairs with Teddy and Misty.” 

Steve didn’t say a word, picking Harry up at the waist and pinning him against the large fridge freezer, forcing the smaller man’s legs to wrap around the super soldier’s waist, pressing their lips together in a fiercely passionate kiss. “No one kisses you but me,” Steve said with a low, possessive growl as he broke the kiss. “Understand?” 

Silently, Harry nodded, rather liking this overly-possessive side of Steve. Taking charge, Harry threaded his fingers through Steve’s soft blond hair, pulling him into a deeply passionate kiss, Steve’s hands finding their way under Harry’s t-shirt. It wasn’t the most romantic situation, the smell of burning carrots surrounding them, the water having completely evaporated from the pan, Sarah screaming for her Daddy, not understand why he hadn’t come to see her when he was so close; even JJ was starting to get upset through the lack of attention now. 

“Not interrupting anything are we?” Phil asked in amusement as he stopped in the doorway to the kitchen, Teddy and Misty standing just in front of him, giggling amongst themselves at the state they had found Harry and Steve in. 

Harry groaned as he broke the kiss, resting his head on Steve’s shoulder. That one kiss had left him rock hard and wishing that they had time to go and deal with their erections, Steve having exactly the same problem. It had been a while since they had actually had sex, simply because Harry was always tired, falling asleep the second his head hit the pillow. Having two super babies and a magical almost-teenager was exhausting him. 

“To be continued,” Steve said in a lusty voice as he lowered Harry to the ground with one final sweet kiss to his lips. “Give me a minute,” he added, directing this to Phil and the two older children, before heading into the dining room to see the twins, who were screaming for attention. 

“It’s good to see you two happy,” Phil said to Harry, wanting to say so much more, knowing that the two had been having a few issues in their relationship, however, he didn’t want to put worrying thoughts in the minds of Teddy and Misty, so he kept things subtle. 

“I think I over did the dinner a little,” Harry said rather sheepishly, hoping to change the subject, veering it away from the problems he and Steve were having in their relationship. He hated that it was such common knowledge to half of S.H.I.E.L.D. Though it didn’t help that a few of their spats had happened while on S.H.I.E.L.D. property. 

“I’m sure it’ll taste wonderful,” Coulson said with a smile, picking up on the need to change the subject. He glanced through to the dining room where Sarah was already in her Daddy’s arms, cooing happily at her Dad while he fussed over JJ, who was still in his highchair. 

\-------------x 

After dinner Harry finally had the chance to sit down and relax. Steve had taken Sarah and JJ upstairs for their bath and to settle them in bed. Teddy and Misty had once again disappeared up to Teddy’s bedroom to do goodness knows what. Harry wasn’t too concerned, he trusted his Godson to be sensible, he was fairly grown up for his age. 

“Do you remember the young man, Grant Ward, who was training the young recruits?” Coulson asked as he brought out some plans and files for Harry to have a look at. He valued the young man’s opinion and was keen to have him on board with the plans for a new team of agents. 

“Yeah, he took special interest in the twins,” Harry said with a nod. He recalled Grant Ward because every time he had called in to see how Teddy was doing during the summer training, Ward would come and talk to him. “You want him on your team?”

Coulson nodded in confirmation, selecting one of the files and opening it, sliding it in front of Harry for him to have a look at. “What do you think?” he asked. “His ratings are excellent, particularly in combat and espionage. Second only to Miss Romanoff.”

“Well that’s high praise if I ever heard it,” Harry commented, as he looked the file over. He had seen quite a few personnel files now, ones that Coulson had asked for his opinion on, but not Ward’s, and it certainly made for interesting reading. “I hope you aren’t hoping for him to make many friends.”

“Hmm,” Phil hummed, nodding in agreement, “his people skills are a little… unrefined.” 

“As are Natasha’s,” Harry said with a smile, “perhaps being the best in combat and espionage comes with that burden.” 

“Natasha has her bond with Clint,” Phil reminded. “I think that that helps. Grant has a rather unique relationship with the man who trained him but that’s it.” 

“John Garrett, yes, he’s down here, though I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him yet,” Harry said. He knew that he was privileged with the amount of upper level S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that he had met. He and Steve were level eight, Teddy was already level 2, having proven himself in the field and at training. 

“A good agent,” Phil mused as Harry scanned over Ward’s file with interest. Grant was a handsome guy that was for sure but he certainly wasn’t Harry’s type. He wasn’t blond. 

“I don’t suppose you ever made heads of tails of that Hydra thing that George mentioned?” Harry asked curiously as he closed the file and handed it back to Phil. 

“No, there is no trace of them anywhere, not since Red Skull, who Steve dealt with. I wasn’t able to look too far into it, it’s above my clearance level. Director Fury didn’t believe that it was worth too many man hours; the word of one confused man isn’t significant I’m afraid, not without more evidence.” 

“Understandable,” Harry said with a sigh. “I do think that Ward is a good choice for the team. I’m jealous that I won’t be able to join you on a more permanent basis.” 

“I am sure that we can make some arrangements,” Coulson assured him. “You’ll be a valuable asset for us, though you have your hands full here and not just with the children either.” 

Harry couldn’t help but laugh a little; it was true, he did have his hands full, not only with the children but with Steve as well. He did love his life, though he wasn’t sure he liked it being in America. It just wasn’t what he had pictured his life becoming two years ago when he was still bedding a different handsome blond man every night. 

“Always happy to help,” Harry said as he got up from the sofa. It was getting late and he knew that it was time that Phil took Misty back to where she was staying. He only wished that he could have offered Misty a home here with them, but he knew that he couldn’t, not with them being wizards. The Ministry was already being more than lenient with Steve and S.H.I.E.L.D..

“We should go,” Phil said as he too got to his feet. The next few months were undoubtedly going to be busy but Phil was certainly looking forward to it. He was a little apprehensive about leaving Misty behind with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that was acting as her Foster parent, he was rather fond of the young girl, but his team and the work that Fury had asked him to do took precedent over everything. “Will you keep an eye on Misty? I might not be able to keep as close an eye on her as I would like over the coming months.” 

“Of course,” Harry said at once, without a single second of hesitation. “Her and Teddy are inseparable anyway, it’s hardly likely to be a chore,” he added with a fond smile. He too was fond of Misty and he knew that that was an understatement when it came to Teddy. “If you need anything, Phil, don’t hesitate to call.” 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Phil said, knowing that he would be doing just that. Harry was smart and an exceptionally good Agent, his life experience was second to none. It was only a shame that Harry couldn’t join them on the Bus permanently. 

\-----------x

September turned into October and finally at the end of the month Teddy was finally allowed back to school. Misty’s attendance had been very hit and miss while Teddy had been absent, which had caused a lot of friction at her S.H.I.E.L.D. run Foster home. She had been using her ability to escape from the house so they couldn’t make her go. 

However, now that Teddy was officially allowed back, Misty had agreed that she too would stop refusing to attend. It had caused a little upset that Coulson was no longer around, his team and the missions that they were completing taking him all over the world. Misty missed Phil and was clinging to Teddy more than ever. 

Harry had been invited to Pennsylvania as Phil had wanted his input on what was going on as there had been a number of suspicious deaths in the area. They had shared a video call instead and Harry had acted as a consultant as he had been signed up to do, though he had been itching to go and join them. It turned out to be a fairly simple solution, one of the left over Chitauri helmets from the Battle of New York had been causing the deaths. 

However, when Harry got a call from Darcy on the third of November in the early hours of the morning, there was no way that he couldn’t answer. She had tried to contact S.H.I.E.L.D. but to no avail and she hadn’t known where to turn. Everything was in a mess, Thor was on Earth and then he wasn’t again, Jane was missing and Darcy needed help. Harry had promised that he would be there as soon as possible. 

“I have to go,” Harry said as he threw some clothes into a backpack. Steve had climbed out of bed, wanting to talk some sense into his husband and was stood in the corner of the room near the door, arms folded across his chest, looking rather unimpressed. 

“You can’t just up and leave,” Steve said firmly. He was absolutely terrified that Harry wasn’t going to be coming back and he wasn’t sure that he was going to be able to cope with the twins and Teddy on his own. Though he was fairly grateful that the children were all asleep, this wasn’t something that they needed to see or hear

“I won’t be gone long, I can use a portkey to get back in a heartbeat but I have to go. Darcy wouldn’t have called unless it was important; Jane and Thor had disappeared off, she’s on her way to check Erik out of a mental hospital for goodness sake,” Harry said, trying to reason with his husband. 

“You barely know this woman, you’ve never even met her and you’ve only met Jane once. Why do you care so much to just drop your family and leave on a whim?” Steve argued, not willing to let the matter drop. He wasn’t going to let Harry leave him here alone with their three children, not without putting up a fight about it.

“We’ve been in contact a lot recently,” Harry said with a sigh. This wasn’t something that he had purposefully hidden from Steve, it just had never come up in conversation. Steve had been gone so much with training programs and side missions that Harry had just wanted someone to talk to. Jane was smart and inquisitive, she believed in science and Harry was centred in magic, they had some seriously intellectual debates over the video chat. 

“You’ve been in contact?” Steve asked in surprise, unaware that this had been the case. “For how long?” he asked, wondering what else Harry just simply hadn’t told him. For the last few months they had been fine, at least he thought that they had been. They at least hadn’t been arguing at all, everything had been peaceful and Steve had assumed they had moved past the difficulties they’d been having. 

“For months,” Harry said with a shrug as he zipped up his bag rather roughly. He was still an Auror back in England, he did a lot of work from home and that still entitled him to certain privileges, including making portkeys without the need for miles of paperwork. This was how he intended to get to England but still be able to get home in a hurry if need be. However, in Harry’s mind he needed a break and was therefore leaving his children with their father, this break was long overdue. 

“You can’t just leave,” Steve said again, determined to make Harry see sense. 

“I’ll be back in a couple of days,” Harry said, putting the bag on his back and withdrawing his wand. He had a number of odds and ends in his bedside table for this exact purpose, he took one out now, turning it into a portkey. There was nothing that Steve could say that was going to keep him here, he needed to get away for a bit and just do something that he was used to doing. 

Going out, getting drunk and sleeping with a random blond was off the cards right now, that was something that he couldn’t do to Steve. Going out and being an Auror turned agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. was the next best thing, it was something that he just had to do.

“Harry, please,” Steve said desperately, not wanting to see his husband leave. 

Harry sighed, knowing that he had very limited time until the portkey activated. “I love you,” he said, going up on his tip-toes and placing a chaste kiss to his husband’s lips. “If you need anything call me, I’ll be back in a couple of days.”

\-------------x 

Harry had felt a little awkward when he apparated into Erik’s London apartment and no one was there, he had thought they would have been back by now. He did feel a little guilty about leaving Steve to deal with Teddy, Sarah and JJ but the man was their father and he had been gone so much recently, he needed the time to reconnect to the children. Putting down his things, Harry had debated what to do next. He had expected for Darcy to be here, the fact that she wasn’t concerned him, especially seeing as Jane was currently missing too. 

Harry had made himself at home on the couch and even set the fire going in the hearth in the twenty minutes that he had been alone in the flat, not knowing what to do. Then the silence had been shattered in a millisecond when the door to the small flat turned lab burst open and Darcy entered in her usual loud and confident manner, a strange man that Harry didn’t recognize following in her wake, Erik Selvig just behind the two of them. The three just stopped upon seeing Harry sat there, not knowing how to react. 

It was the young man that Harry didn’t recognize to react first. Dropping the many things that he was carrying, the man jumped in front of Darcy as if to protect her and Harry laughed at his efforts, knowing that if he had wanted to hurt any of them then they would have been dead. Between his time as an Auror and then as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, he was fairly confidence in his ability to shuffle people off the mortal coil. 

“Harry,” Darcy gasped out in shock. She had not expected for him to be there. When she had called him he had been in America and that had only been about an hour ago. It made no sense that he was there now, it scientifically wasn’t possible. “How are you even here?” 

“You called me…” Harry said, a little uncertain. He was sure that she had needed his help and had wanted him here, now he wasn’t so sure. For a brief moment Harry was a little concerned that he had read too much into her phone call and made more of it than there was just so he could go on an adventure again, just like in the good old days. 

“But you were in America,” Darcy said, coming further into the room. The other man and Erick doing the same, closing the door behind them. 

“Yes, I was,” Harry said, finally realising what she meant. Jane didn’t even know the extent of what he could do, not even Phil did, only the Avengers and Fury. Darcy knew even less, as far as these muggles were concerned he was just a man with abilities, like Steve or Thor. “And now I’m here.” 

“Yes, but how?” Darcy insisted, going into the kitchen and flicking the switch on the kettle. Her time in England had converted her, she had discovered that she genuinely really liked tea. She had been curious when she had come here, wanting to know what all of the fuss was about. She wasn’t sure it was going to be the same when she went home to America. 

“Darcy,” Harry said with a sigh, “there are always going to be things about me that I can’t explain to you. This is one of those times.” There was no way that he was going to explain things to her, the girl was just too excitable about things and there was no guarantee that she was going to keep her mouth shut. It wasn’t worth breaking the statute of secrecy. “What’s going on, why did you need my help?” 

As Darcy launched into her explanation about the convergence and how it was that she and Jane had come to be in England, Erik removed his pants and sat down at his desk in front of his computer. When Harry looked at him questioningly, Selvig shrugged. “It helps me think,” he said without batting an eyelid. 

“I think I’m ordering a take out,” Harry said, running a hand through his hair, “chinese alright with everyone?” There were murmurs of agreement as everyone started to get on with what needed to be done. 

\----------x

Steve hadn't been back to sleep since Harry had left in the early hours of the morning. He had no idea what to do with the two young babies that he had helped to create. Harry was usually the one to take care of family things, Steve thought of their arrangement as very traditional and he liked it that way.

It was almost six in the morning now, hours after Harry had vanished from right in front of his eyes using some magic trick of his. Steve still wasn't sure on all the details of that element of Harry's life. Sarah and JJ would be awake soon, screaming to be fed and with no idea that their mother was gone. It was then the madness was going to ensue.

Not only did Steve have the twins to deal with and worry about, but he had Teddy to concern himself with too. He would have to dress and feed Sarah and JJ, getting them ready to leave the house, which was a mammoth task all on its own. He was also going to have to get Teddy out of bed, fed and ready for school, not to mention actually get him there.

Steve honestly had no idea where to start with everything that he had to do this morning, he had been sat on the edge of the bed thinking about it ever since Harry had left. He felt utterly pathetic; he was meant to be a superhero for goodness sake, if only the adoring fans of Captain America could see him now, a quivering wreck at the prospect of taking care of his own children single-handed.

The only thought that prevented him from calling in reinforcements was that Harry had trusted him to be able to handle this. No matter how annoyed at his husband he was, Steve didn't want to let him down. Harry did this all the time, there was no reason he couldn't do it too.

A grumble of complaint in the room across the hall signalled to Steve that JJ was awake. It had to be his little boy because he never made any fuss, Sarah on the other hand was a screamer. She liked to make sure that she was heard and low and behold, not a second later her cries could be heard.

Getting to his feet, knowing that he had no choice but to just get this over with, he headed for the nursery. He wasn't sure how Harry had managed it; the cries were slightly less in the rest of the house, however the moment that he entered the twins room the screams increased to a deafening level. Sarah was stood up in her crib, shaking at the bars, her cheeks bright red from crying and tear tracks down her face.

Steve rolled his eyes, going to her first. She had been awake no more than a minute and already she had worked herself up into such a state. “Was no one here to give you any attention, little girl?” Steve joked with a smile as he reached down and picked her up. Sarah had ceased her screams the second her Daddy had come into the room but now she buried her head in his shoulder, putting her thumb in her mouth and only letting out the occasional sniffle.

JJ on the other hand was sat quite calmly in his crib, playing with his teddy. “Mama,” he said, looking up and seeing his dad, “mama,” he repeated again, getting to his feet and try to look around Steve for Harry. JJ was going to be the tricky one, he was overly attached to Harry, just like Sarah was to him.

“Mama will be back soon,” Steve said to his son, manoeuvring Sarah so that he could bend down and pick JJ up. The little boy, however, was having none of it, flumping back down on to his nappy clad bottom and starting to sniffle.

“Mama,” JJ said again, “mama, mama, mama,” he demanded, hitting his little hands down on the mattress in frustration. Steve sighed, not really knowing what to do, he knew that if he tried to pick the little boy up then he was going to scream and thrash about and he didn't want to risk dropping Sarah.

“Why did it have to be twins,” Steve mumbled unhappily, wishing that he had an extra pair of hands. “JJ, I'll be right back, I'm just going to take your sister downstairs alright, then I'll be back for you.”

“Mama,” JJ answered, making a cross face as he looked up at his dad. Steve could totally understand where his son was coming from, the little boy was besotted with his mother, and Harry had never been away from them, not since they had been born. He on the other hand had probably been away for about half their lives.

It hadn't taken him long to realise that he probably should have been around more. Harry had managed the two little ones and Teddy on his own for almost a full year now. He was struggling to cope for a couple days. He was going to have to get a grip, he was Captain America for goodness sake, he would not fall at this hurdle.

Putting Sarah in the playpen in the living room and making sure she was settled and had some toys to play with, Steve headed back upstairs for JJ. He could hear his daughter whining about being put down and left, the little girl craving attention, but Steve could not pander to her today. On the way back to the nursery, Steve stopped off at Teddy's room, knocking quite forcibly on the door with the aim of waking the ten year old up.

“Go way,” a sleepy voice muttered from somewhere inside the room.

“Up, Teddy,” Steve shouted through the door, “breakfast in ten, I expect you dressed and in the kitchen before then.” There was some more unintelligible grumbling but Steve left the almost teenager to his own devices; he had been told what to do, there would be consequences if he didn't do it.

JJ was still slumped down in his crib when Steve returned for him. When the little boy saw that it was his dad once again rather than his mother, JJ folded his arms across his chest looking rather cross about the whole situation. “Want mama,” he said with determination. Steve could tell that his son was going to give him a headache before the day was out. 

When the twins were both in their highchairs and eating breakfast, Steve risked leaving them alone so that he could go and check on Teddy. The ten year old had still not surfaced from his bedroom and he needed to start getting ready for school. Steve knew he shouldn’t have left the twins on their own but he honestly didn’t have a choice, not if he wanted to get Teddy to school on time. 

Hammering his fist on the door in an attempt to wake the ten year old, Steve shouted; “you had better be awake and out of bed.” There was no response. Getting rather annoyed and fretting a little because he had left the twins all alone downstairs, Steve opened the door and stormed in. He had seen this used on other recruits during his time in the army and he was so fed up with Teddy not listening to him that he felt no guilt in grabbing one side of the mattress and lifting it, tipping the young boy out of bed and on to the floor with a bang. 

“What the hell was that for?” Teddy asked in outrage as he tried to detangle himself from the mass of blankets that he had managed to become tangled up in. 

“Watch your language,” Steve said rather firmly. “Get dressed and downstairs for breakfast, we’re leaving for school in twenty minutes!” 

Not wanting to leave the twins for any longer than he had to, Steve turned and stormed from the room, leaving Teddy to just get on with it. There would be hell to pay if the young boy went back to sleep. Steve got the fright of his life, however, when he came back into the kitchen and both the high chairs were empty. 

“Fuck,” Steve yelled, looking all round the kitchen for any sign of Sarah or JJ. When he couldn't see either of them he moved on to the dining room which was also vacant. He even checked under the table, knowing that sometimes JJ liked to hide but there was no sign of either of them. 

“Dad?” Teddy asked in confusion as he came down the stairs, JJ in his arms, “you realise JJ was upstairs on his own.” Steve looked so relieved to see his little boy that he immediately swooped in and took him into his arms. “I think he was looking for Mum.” 

“Sarah’s gone too,” Steve said frantically, “help me look?” JJ was not happy about being back downstairs and in his Dad’s arms, he wanted his Mum and would not stop calling out for him, hitting little fists against his father's expansive, solid chest. 

“How did you manage to lose both of them?” Teddy asked in surprise as he began to help his Dad look in all the nooks and crannies in the hallway, checking for any sign that Sarah might have been there. 

“I think they used their magic, did that disappearing and reappearing thing they can do,” Steve said as he took JJ back into the kitchen and secured the little boy into his highchair once again, happy that he hadn’t been hurt while on his little adventure. “Besides, I wouldn’t have had to leave them if you had got out of bed the first time I asked.” 

“Wait, you’re blaming me for this?” Teddy said in disgust as he came into the kitchen carrying a rather messy Sarah at arms length. The little girl had a broad grin on her face and was giggling happily. “I’m not the one who lost two one year olds,” he snapped unhappily as Steve took Sarah from him, the little girl squealing in delight at being back in her Dad’s arms. “Where’s mum anyway? He finally get fed up of you always abandoning us and walk out?” 

“Don’t speak to me like that, young man!” Steve said firmly, not willing to accept any cheek from the ten year old. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with it. Sarah was babbling nonsense to her brother as Steve secured her back into her high chair, sighing as he realised that she would need to go in the bath as she had clumps baby cereal stuck in her dark brown hair. 

“You know mum has never lost either of them, he never let Sarah smear her breakfast all over the T.V or the sofa and he would never leave JJ on his own upstairs,” Teddy said somewhat smugly, “You’re never here to help and he always manages just fine, you can’t even cope for one morning.” The twins were happily chatting away to one another, completely disregarding the argument going on in front of them. 

“I’m trying, Teddy,” Steve said with exasperation, hating that he just couldn’t take care of his own children. It made him feel utterly useless, however, he was righteously angry at Teddy; he had only left the twins alone this morning because the ten year old hadn’t wanted to get out of bed. “I would have appreciated you helping this morning rather than hindering.” 

“It’s not my fault you’re useless,” Teddy snapped angrily, the raised sharp tones grabbing the attention of the twins who suddenly went very quiet. “Harry doesn’t need help, he’s learnt to get everything done on his own because you’re never here. You don’t even see how lonely he is or how sad, you don’t care, all you care about is your next mission and it’s pathetic.” 

“Wow, you’re good at channelling your mum,” Steve said with a sigh as Sarah began to snivell, not liking the argument that was going on in front of her. JJ on the other hand was just looking between his big brother and his Dad not knowing what to do. 

Steve knew that Harry would never say the things to him that Teddy was saying but then he was never around to give his husband the chance. It was clear that Teddy, being as bright as he was, had picked up on more than a few of the issues that he and Harry had been having in their relationship. It had always been important to both of them that the children remained unaffected but it seemed that in that respect they had failed miserably. 

“Whatever,” Teddy snapped, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. “I’ll see you tonight if you can remember or even be bothered to pick me up.” 

“Wait, I’m meant to take you to school,” Steve said as Teddy headed for the door. Sarah was now screaming at the top of her lungs, arms outstretched towards Steve, wanting to be picked up. JJ was starting to sniffle, tears welling up in his eyes. He had always been the quieter of the two and he really didn’t like loud noises very much. 

“Forget it, I’ll walk,” Teddy snapped angrily. “One less thing to worry about for your tiny little brain,” he added as he opened the front door and walked out, slamming it shut behind him. 

Without worrying about Teddy, Steve was able to bath both Sarah and JJ without too much fuss, though his son was still desperate for Harry. Steve did call the school though, just to make sure that Teddy had made it in okay, which he had. He did feel a little guilty about the fact that Teddy had had to walk there on his own that morning but tomorrow it would be better, if Harry wasn’t back that was and Steve had a gut feeling that Harry wouldn’t be. 

The experience of the morning rush and panic when Sarah and JJ hadn’t been where he had left them had made Steve realise just how isolated Harry must feel. Harry didn’t know anyone there and he did all of this on his own and without any complaint. It was no wonder that he had taken off at the first opportunity. It was clear that Steve was going to have to readjust his priorities a little because he couldn’t leave Harry to do all of this on his own anymore. 

\--------------x 

Things at Erik’s calmed down after the Chinese food arrived, everyone had retreated to do their own things while they ate. Erik and Darcy were trying to figure out where Jane and Thor were, as they looked into everything they could about the convergence that was taking place all around them and tried to figure out what might happen as a result of it. Whatever was going on, it had to have something to do with wherever Thor and Jane had disappeared off to. 

Harry had resigned himself to being sat on the sofa reading, thinking of his family and wondering how they were getting on without him and if Steve was coping with the twins and Teddy. He was startled out of his musings when the door to the flat burst open rather suddenly and two familiar faces walked in. Thor and Jane were looking serious and as if something was very wrong, which they were to find out it was. 

“Harry,” Jane said in shock at seeing him there, stopping rather suddenly at the sight of the Avenger sat on her sofa. She was more than a little surprised but beyond grateful that he was here; with Thor and Harry there to help it was bound to work out. At least that was what she hoped.

“Potter,” Thor boomed with a smile, after hanging up his hammer and turning to face the people in the room, just as surprised as Jane to see Harry there, “it is good to see you again.” The large man strode forward, embracing the smaller man in a tight embrace that had Harry struggling to breath. There was no doubt that Thor was as strong as he looked. 

“It’s good to see you too, Thor,” Harry said as he was released and finally able to draw breath again. “Hi, Jane,” he added with a little wave as Darcy pounced upon her friend, berating her for just upping and leaving with no explanation. Harry rolled his eyes a little as the group exchanged hugs and relieved greetings. Clearly Jane had been gone for a while and there was a lot to discuss. 

Harry was thrilled to find himself in the middle of the action. He was more than happy to help stop whatever was going on. He loved being part of something again, these guys were no Avenger’s team, except for Thor of course, but they were still a team and there was a mission to complete and a world to save. 

\-------------x 

Between them it hadn’t taken long to figure out where they needed to be, where the epicentre of the convergence was going to be on earth; in Greenwich of all places, much to Harry’s surprise. Though it made sense with the activity that Jane and Erik had been observing. 

Harry had been quite alarmed by Jane’s description of what to expect; it was easy to tell that fluctuations in gravity were not a good thing, and though he wasn’t sure what spatial extrusions were exactly, he didn’t like the sound of that either. He had no idea how they were supposed to fight against something that was warping reality, and he wasn’t even sure how it would react with his magic, so he was glad that Erik seemed to be several steps ahead of them in that regard. 

“Are you sure I shouldn’t be helping Darcy and Ian with the other sensors?” Harry asked in a concerned whisper as he followed Erik and Jane through a study hall. He knew that they both meant well, but it seemed fairly important to get them set up quickly and this was the only plan they had for the moment. 

“No, they can handle it,” Jane assured him, ignoring the person who shushed them, “we need to be ready.”

Harry nodded his agreement, knowing that they needed to trust that Thor would be able to deal with Malekith. They had a plan, as rushed as it had been, and they would stick to it. 

\-------x 

Harry had stuck close to Jane and Erik, so as to better protect them as Thor had instructed, given the God of Thunder didn’t want Jane to be hurt in this battle. They only had to keep Malekith busy until the convergence was over; it was still hard for him to just let Thor deal with the majority of the fighting and Harry did what he could to help, but he kept his word to his fellow Avenger. 

When Thor had gone into the black and red mist of the Aether, Harry had been the one holding Jane back, stopping her from following, telling her that they had to trust that Thor knew what he was doing. He had got her back on track so that with Thor in the thick of things, Jane could do what was needed of her and destroy Malekith. 

Though he hadn’t been able to stop her from running to Thor when the asgardian had been unconscious and almost being crushed, he had been able to use his magic and help get them out of the way before the spaceship had fallen on them both. Not that it had been needed as the spaceship had vanished right before it had crushed them, disappearing through one of Erik’s portals, much to their relief. The battle was won and the world was saved, but it was not over. 

Harry had watched as a tearful Jane had had to say her goodbyes to Thor, who had needed to return to Asgard. After the way that Thor had left, he had needed to talk to his father. It had been hard to see him go, it always was but it was something that he needed to do and both Harry and Jane could of course understand that. 

The weary warriors had then traipsed back to Erik’s London flat and collapsed into bed, exhausted. Harry and Jane had shared a rather amused look however, when Darcy had taken Ian into her bedroom before the two of them had allowed their exhaustion to overcome them, unsure of where Darcy and Ian found the energy. Harry had honestly meant to call Steve when it was over to let him know what everything was okay but he had just been so tired he had made a mental note to do so when he woke up. 

\-------------------x 

When Steve woke up and switched on the television to see the early morning reports of Thor and Blackbird battling against a hostile alien force in Greenwich with a few unknown civilians, the super soldier had very quickly grabbed his phone, checking for messages but there were none. He watched the news report in a stunned silence, wanting to know desperately if there had been any casualties but none were reported, only a few minor injuries and even then they weren’t confirmed as none of those involved had been available for comment. He tried to call Harry several times before giving up, knowing that he had to get Teddy up and ready for school, not to mention the twins. 

It wasn’t until Teddy was at school and the twins were happily sat in their play pen occupying themselves that Steve’s phone finally rang. He grabbed for it instantly, realising that it was most likely Harry; it must have been about 5pm over in England, hours after the battle of Greenwich had taken place. It grated on Steve that Harry had only thought to call him now. 

“Harry?” Steve said as he picked up the phone, desperate to hear the sound of his husband’s voice. “Harry, is that you?” he asked when the person on the other end said nothing. 

“Hi, Steve,” Harry finally said with a hint of a smile in his voice. 

“You had me worried sick!” Steve said, the relief that had washed over him was suddenly gone, replaced with a righteous anger at the fact that Harry hadn’t contacted him right away to let him know that he was alright. 

“I’m sorry I just left like that,” Harry said at once, realising that he probably should have called earlier than this. 

“No, Harry, the fight with Thor, it’s been all over the news here!” Steve said angrily. “Couldn’t you have called to let me know that you were okay?” 

“I didn’t realise you knew about what was happening over here. I’ve only just woken up. The battle was exhausting for all of us, no one else is even up yet.” He honestly hadn’t thought that Steve would have known what was going on or that there was anything for him to be worrying about. 

“I haven’t heard from you since you disappeared off yesterday in the early hours of the morning. Have you even wondered about how the twins are? Or Teddy?” 

“Don’t do that, Steve,” Harry said with a sigh, “you know I’ve thought about you and the children. I never stop thinking about it, my whole life has revolved around you and the children for the last eleven months and not once have I ever complained because I love you all so much, so do not throw that in my face now.” 

“I’m sorry,” Steve said, realising that airing their issues over the phone wasn’t the best way to solve them. All that mattered was that Harry was safe, anything else could be discussed when Harry finally got home. “I just hate that I’m not there with you to help, that you’re in so much danger and I can’t do anything about it.” 

“Steve,” Harry said with exasperation, unable to maintain his anger when he realised that his husband was worrying about him. “I’m an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., the same as you, with the same clearance level and I’m more than capable of holding my own against anything this Universe can throw at us. Please don’t worry about me.” 

Steve knew all of this. He knew that his husband wasn’t weak and could easily hold his own but it still didn’t sit right with him that Harry was off on this mission while he was stuck at home, struggling with taking care of their children. He wanted to admit that he just wasn’t coping but he knew that he couldn’t admit defeat. Steve didn’t want Harry to think that he was unable to care for their children. 

“I’m always going to worry about you, Harry,” Steve said firmly, wanting his husband to understand this fact. “I love you, you’re my husband, nothing is going to stop me worrying about you.” He knew that he needed to respect the fact that Harry was away on a mission, the younger man had done it plenty of times when the situation had been reverse. Steve knew that he needed to accept that Harry needed this and not be so childish to demand that he come home. However, that didn’t mean that he had to be happy about it. 

“I know,” Harry said sadly, feeling slightly guilty about the fact he had just left. He missed his three children terribly and he missed Steve too, however, he was also glad to finally be out of the house and doing something useful. Saving the day was something that had been programmed into him since he was eleven years old, suddenly becoming domesticated was never going to last in the long term for him. That was something that Steve had to understand, at least a little. 

“Would you like to talk to the twins?” Steve asked with a weary sigh, glancing over to the playpen where Sarah and JJ were happily playing amongst themselves and thankfully had stayed put. Since the little trick that morning, Steve had been keeping a very close eye on them. 

“Yes please,” Harry said, feeling a little choked up all of a sudden, the overwhelming emotion of missing his two young babies washing over him. While dealing with the convergence and Malekith it was easy to push the desperate aching of his heart to one side but he did miss his family so much but equally he needed this time apart from them to regain his own life. 

\-------x 

Jane and Erik slept through to the next morning. Darcy and Ian woke up a few times, but they didn’t resurface from the bedroom, though they could be heard rather clearly. Harry, on the other hand, barely managed a doze, his mind too busy with over thinking everything that he had talked to with Steve. He felt guilty that he had just left but he was happy that he was here and that meant he was feeling very conflicted. 

Harry ate a hurried breakfast after getting a call from Coulson asking him to come join the team back in Greenwich. He left a note for the others, explaining where he had gone and why. He didn’t want them to think that he had just vanished like Thor had done the evening before. Harry was a little excited to be able to join Coulson and his team on one of their assignments. He knew that now the mission with Jane and Thor was done he should have gone home, however, he just couldn’t resist joining the team that he had heard so much about and had helped select as well. 

What he wasn’t expecting was being asked to join the clean up crew. Though he did have to admit that it was rather fascinating, not only because of what they were looking for but also to meet the team that Coulson had assembled. Of course Harry had met Grant Ward before, but the others he had only seen in paper format; finally meeting them face to face was actually rather nice. There was one team member that Harry hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting via her file or in person and he was rather intrigued by the strange girl. 

“Phil,” Harry said curiously, “who’s the girl?” he asked, motioning subtle over to where the curious dark haired girl was stood with Ward chatting away. 

“That’s Skye,” Phil informed him. “She’s a rather unique recruit on to the team.” He had been keeping an eye on Skye for a while now and all her work with the rising tide and he knew that with a little training and discipline she was going to make one hell of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. The poor girl just needed a push in the right direction after the rough start she had had, being juggled around by S.H.I.E.L.D. throughout her childhood. 

Coulson was a little concerned that the same thing was going to happen to Misty. The young and gifted child was much like Skye had been in her younger years. Phil was just glad that Misty had found some stability with Harry and his family, it was something that Skye had never had and that was probably the cause of her going down the path she had chosen in her life. 

“I don’t remember seeing her file,” Harry said conversationally. Phil had shown him the files of all those he had wanted for his team, it had made Harry feel important, knowing that his opinion was valued in things such as this. It hurt a little that he hadn’t been consulted on the recruitment of Skye on to the team. 

“She wasn’t a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent when I recruited her for the team,” Coulson said with a sly smile. “Her background is much as Misty’s is,” he explained. “Orphaned, juggled around by S.H.I.E.L.D. to protect her; she’s quite the talented hacker and an asset to the team. Ward is her supervising officer, training her for field work.” 

“She couldn’t ask for a better supervising officer,” Harry said with a grin, watching the rather solemn man seemingly become tired of all the questions that Skye was asking. It felt so right for Harry to be there, to be part of their team and doing something productive. It had been so long since he had done anything like this, he had forgotten what it felt like to have adrenaline pumping through his veins. Changing a dirty nappy and doing laundry just didn’t have the same appeal as S.H.I.E.L.D. missions. 

“You know we could always use an extra body on the team,” Phil said, looking to Harry meaningfully. He was fairly proud of his team at this point, they were all strong team players in their own unique ways and they balanced each other out brilliantly, but there was no denying what a great addition Harry would be. 

“I wish I could,” Harry said with a smile. “However, I have my own team back in the States that needs me more than you guys do.” It did hurt him a little to turn Phil down but he knew that it was the right decision for him. “I’m happy to help out with this though, after all, I helped create the mess.” 

“If only Thor had the same social graces,” Phil said with a sign, looking out over the mess of the battle that had taken place the day before. It had all been moved so that the general public couldn’t come in contact with any of the alien ware from the spaceship, they didn’t want another incident like they had with the Chitari helmet. 

“If he could be here he would be,” Harry said with a sigh, “he committed treason on his way out of Asgard and I think he’s gone back to speak to his father and sort things out. His brother, Loki, died in the fight so I don’t think cleaning up was at the forefront of his mind.” 

Phil had the decency to look momentarily appalled at himself but quickly regained his composure. He would not shed any tears for the passing of Loki, nor would he give it much thought at all besides how Thor had taken the news. Loki had, after all, killed him, even if it had only been for a few minutes. 

\--------x

In truth Harry probably should have bid farewell to Jane and her team, as well as Coulson and his team, and returned to Washington to his family the following day. The clean up was done as far as S.H.I.E.L.D. was concerned but the mission wasn’t over. Fury was sending Phil and the rest of his team to Norway to follow up on an incident there and Harry made the split second decision that rather than going home, he would be going with them. 

It was five in the morning and Harry had just finished leaving a message for Steve to let him know that he was okay and that it was going to take a little longer before he could come home. It would have been midnight in Washington and he was sure that Steve, Teddy and the twins would all be asleep. He would call them later and speak to them when they were awake. 

As he boarded the Bus, Skye caught his eye. He knew that she had been dying to talk to him when she had found out who he was, there just hadn’t been the opportunity the day before with everything they had had to do. Knowing that it was pointless to avoid her forever, Harry took a seat beside her, readying himself for the never ending questions. 

“You’re an Avenger right,” Skye said almost instantly as Harry had settled himself in his seat. “The Blackbird?” 

Harry couldn’t help but laugh, he had known that she was forward but even this wasn’t expected. “I wouldn’t say that I’m an Avenger,” he said, still smiling at the thought, “but I am married to one, Captain America.” 

“Wow,” Skye said with a low, impressed whistle, “wow.” She was in awe of being in the presence of Harry, who, in her mind, was an Avenger. He fought side by side with the like of Thor, Hulk and Ironman, Harry was one of them.

“We have three children too,” Harry said, enjoying the expression of shock on her face when he said this. It wasn’t common knowledge that the children were biologically theirs as in the muggle world it was impossible for a male to have children but he knew that there were a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that knew. As far as they were concerned, it was part of his special abilities. He was super human just like Captain America and Hulk, an unexplained occurrence. 

“How?” Skye asked in surprise, wanting to know every detail that she could. She was completely fascinated by Harry and his special abilities and wanted to know everything she could.

“We’re going to be on the flight for a couple of hours,” Harry said with a grin as the engines of the Bus roared into life as Melinda May prepared to take them to the sky. “Perhaps you should save some of your questions for later on.” 

“I have plenty to fill the time,” Skye said, grabbing a notebook and pen from out of the bag at her feet. This only made Harry’s smile broaden. He was going to rather enjoy talking to Skye. 

\----------x 

Steve received Harry’s message when he was awoken at six that morning by Sarah’s shrill cries. She was wanting attention but Steve just didn’t have the energy to go to her. He was tired, more so than he had been since before he had become the man he was today. He remembered the asthma and other health woes he had had as a young man, but even then he had never before felt as run down and exhausted as he did now. He did wonder if this was how Harry felt all of the time. Steve had only been doing this for a few days, Harry had been doing it for months. 

The message had been vague, that Harry was okay and travelling to Norway. This news had sunk Steve further into depression, thinking of Harry travelling further away from him. It honestly felt as if he was losing his husband to S.H.I.E.L.D.. Sarah’s cries had quickly stirred JJ and now both of the twins were crying but still, Steve didn’t have the energy to pull himself out of bed and tend to them, instead he pulled the duvet up, over his head and just started to cry. 

\----------x

It wasn’t until five that evening that Steve finally heard from Harry. The twins had just settled to bed for the day, after a full day of whinging and crying; neither Sarh nor JJ had taken well to Harry being gone. It was becoming one of Steve’s biggest stresses and Teddy wasn’t helping matters either, the ten year old was becoming rather rebellious and wouldn’t listen to anything that Steve told him. 

“Harry, it’s good to hear from you,” Steve said when he picked up the phone and heard his husband’s voice at the other end of the line. Teddy was in his room watching the television though he was supposed to be doing his homework, however, Steve just didn’t have the energy to have that particular argument. 

“I left a message for you earlier, I didn’t want to wake you up,” Harry said, feeling a little guilty about not making the effort to speak to his family and he was now second guessing his decision not to try and see if Steve was still awake, “did you not get it?” he asked with concern. 

“I got it,” Steve said with a sigh, “how’s Norway?” 

“It was beautiful,” Harry said, though Steve could tell from the tone of his voice that Harry could hear how upset he was. “Not that we got much of a chance for sight seeing, we were a little too busy for all that.” 

“Was?” Steve asked, picking up on Harry’s use of past tense. It didn’t sit comfortably with Steve that he might not know where his husband was or what he was doing. 

“We’re in Spain now,” Harry said, though a little hesitantly. He hadn’t purposefully not told Steve where he was going, but everything had happened so quickly. They had been investigating an object of Asgardian origin and, no sooner had they established that this was the case, had they all been flown to Spain to consult with the world's leading expert of Norse mythology. They still had work to do in Seville and would not be coming home just yet, not that Harry wanted to tell Steve that. 

“Spain,” Steve repeated hesitantly. Harry had left for London to help Jane and he had then jetted off to Norway with S.H.I.E.L.D. and now he was in Spain. It didn’t seem like Harry was going to be coming home any time soon and it worried Steve. He knew that occasionally these missions got a little out of hand but the last thing he wanted was for Harry to get so caught up in S.H.I.E.L.D. that he forgot that he belonged at home with his family. 

“I shouldn’t be too much longer,” Harry said, understanding that his husband was going to be fretting about how much longer he would be away. Though, as much as he understood how Steve felt he wasn’t going to cut the mission short and abandon Coulson, he would finish this first and then he would go home, not before. 

“You’ve been gone for days,” Steve pointed out, though he knew that it would be useless. Harry would already know how long he had been gone and telling him wasn’t going to make much of a difference to the situation. “We all miss you,” he added rather pathetically. 

“I miss you all too,” Harry said sincerely. He couldn’t deny that he missed his family, he just needed some time away from them to realise this. 

“Come home,” Steve pleaded, “please, Harry.” He didn’t want to share with his husband how much he wasn’t coping, he refused to admit defeat but he just couldn’t cope with the crying from the twins anymore, nor could he cope with Teddy ignoring everything he said and then doing the opposite. 

“As soon as we’re finished here I will,” Harry said, feeling more than a little guilty over how desperate Steve sounded. “I should go, I’m tired and need to get some sleep, we have a busy day tomorrow.” With the pain in Steve’s voice, Harry wasn’t sure that he could carry on with the conversation. It wasn’t like they were getting anywhere. When Harry got home he knew that there would have to be a very long and serious conversation; they had a lot of issues that couldn’t be aired over the phone. 

“Fine,” Steve said with a defeated sigh. He couldn’t say anything that he wanted to say over the phone anyway. He didn’t know what to say to his husband anymore and that pained him. Their relationship had never been easy but it had never been this hard either. 

“I promise I’ll be home soon,” Harry said, wanting to give Steve that. He hated hearing his husband sound so defeated, he only wished that Steve was here with him and that they could have gone of this mission together. He knew that could never happen, not now they had Sarah and JJ and he wouldn’t wish them gone for anything, he loved his troublesome twins. 

“We’ll see you when we see you,” Steve replied before cutting off the line. He didn’t want to hear promises from his husband, they were all empty words to him, nothing more. They would mean very little until Harry was home with him where he belonged. 

\------------x 

The next time Harry heard from Steve was the following evening. Harry hadn’t been able to face calling again, not to hear Steve sound so dejected when there was nothing he could do about it. The team were in Ireland now, having come up against the Norse Paganists in a Monastery and won. It had been a hard won fight, both Grant and Melinda had been infected with the staff but both seemed to have recovered from it well. 

Harry had received a few minor injuries during the fight and had been told to rest. He had been in bed, half asleep when his phone had rung. He had known that it would be Steve before he even answered, what Harry was not expecting was for his husband to sound so frantic. 

“You have to come home,” Steve said, “I don’t know what to do.” Harry could tell that it pained Steve to admit this, he was not one to ever admit defeat. 

“Steve, calm down, what is it, what’s happened?” Harry asked, a million and one things going through his mind. He imagined the worst possible case scenarios with Teddy and the twins, thinking the worst in the few seconds that it took for Steve to answer him. 

“Misty is here, she’s brought bags, she’s saying she has nowhere to go and she can’t stay with her foster parents because one of the other children there is hurting her!” he said quickly; it was a struggle for Harry to comprehend what he had said it was so rushed. 

“Slow down,” Harry said, taking a breath. “Why is Misty there?” he asked, needing to get to the bottom of what was going on at home. 

“She said that one of the boys there was hurting her so she packed a bag and left. Now she’s here and I don’t know what to do,” Steve said, a little slower this time but still as panicked. 

Harry sighed, knowing that his family needed him but feeling as if he just wasn’t quite ready to come home yet. He had had so much fun on this mission and he didn’t want to go back to the boring normalcy of his life but he knew that he was going to have to. “Okay,” he said defeatedly, “I’ll be home as soon as I can, just let me finish up with things here, I won’t be more than a day or so. Just put Misty in the spare room, feed her and whatever you do, don’t force her to talk about it if she isn’t ready to. It sounds like she’s been through enough already.” 

“Why can’t you come home now?” Steve asked. He wasn’t sure how all this magic stuff worked but he knew that Harry had the capability to teleport and could be home instantly if he wanted to be, which he clearly he didn’t want to. 

“I can’t apparate long distances,” Harry tried to explain; he had already tried to explain this before but it didn’t seem to have sunk into Steve's head, not that Harry could blame his husband for this; Steve struggled to come to terms with some of the modern day muggle technology, magic was a little beyond him. “It takes too much out of me and a portkey is the same. I’m tired and, if I don’t do it properly, I could end up hurting myself. Let me finish up here and then I’ll come home, I promise.” 

“Fine,” Steve said firmly, more angry than anything else. He was furious that Harry wouldn’t come home and help him. Looking after their own children was one thing, however, adding an orphan on to that list wasn’t something that he had been expecting. Steve wasn’t heartless, he wouldn’t turn her away, he knew what it felt like not to have anyone, but that didn’t mean he felt right about having her there. 

Without another word Steve hung up the phone, realising that he was going to get no assistance from his husband at all. Harry was left feeling rather like he had let his family down but also feeling as if Steve should have been able to handle this. It wasn’t like he had been gone that long. It had only been four days, he’d be home soon enough, shackled to the house, looking after his children, doing the school runs and being a house husband, living his boring, humdrum life while Steve went on all of the adventures and lived his life. 

\----------------x

While waiting for their next mission, Phil had put them up in a local Irish hotel for two nights. The team had needed the respite. Despite the panicked phone call from Steve the night before Harry had decided to stay. He knew that it wasn’t the best idea and he would catch hell for it later but he wasn’t quite ready to go home just yet. Tonight was the last night, however, tomorrow the team would move on to their next mission and Harry knew he couldn’t go with them. 

With that knowledge weighing down on him, Harry had come to the hotel bar to drown his sorrows. He was feeling pretty rotten in all honesty, knowing that he shouldn’t want to be away from his husband and his children for such an extended amount of time, yet here he was, delaying going back to his family for just one more night. 

He wasn’t technically alone, Harry had chosen to hide himself away in a corner booth, Grant Ward, however, was sat at the bar. After his encounter with the Staff it was no wonder he needed to drink, it had shook both him and Melinda up a little. Melinda May just wasn’t one to deal with her demons in public. 

Harry was almost tempted to join Grant when he saw Skye go over and join him. He knew that Skye rather liked Ward so he left them be, watching rather curiously. When Grant finished his drink and left, clearly turning down an offer to join Skye in her room, Harry took his drink and went to sit beside her. 

“Everything okay?” Harry asked, signalling the bartender for another round for the two of them. Skye nodded a little hesitantly, still feeling a little intimidated by Harry. He waited until they had been given their drinks by a man who reminded Harry a lot of Seamus Finnegan, before he tried again to engage her in conversation. “Apparently working for S.H.I.E.L.D. has its perks,” Harry said, raising his glass to her. 

Skye couldn’t help but smile, raising her glass to chink against his, “I imagine that being married to an Avenger does too.” 

“In bed it certainly does,” he answered as Skye took a sip of her drink and almost spat it back out again. 

“I bet a lot of people would like to be in your position,” Skye said, she knew that she certainly would. Captain America certainly inspired a lot of wet knickers. 

“Same to you,” Harry said, thinking just how much he would have loved to be in Skye’s shoes, having the freedom to join the team, travel the world and solve cases. 

“Want to switch?” Skye asked jokingly, finishing her drink and making it known to the barman that she wanted another. 

“As much as I would love to, I’m not sure that you’re my husband’s type. Plus I don’t think that my kids would be happy about that trade. Unfortunately my marriage isn’t just about banging a superhero, it has a lot of responsibility added into it.” 

“Must be nice though, having a family,” Skye said as their next round of drinks arrived. She didn’t miss the sly wink that the blond barman gave to Harry either and it made her smile a little. 

“Yeah, it is,” Harry said, feeling a little horrible talking about this when he knew that Skye didn’t have anyone. He had read her file, he knew that she was very much like Misty, pushed from foster home to foster home, constantly being surveyed by S.H.I.E.L.D. “You have the team now and even I can see that they’re like family; hugely dysfunctional, of course, but which family isn’t?” 

“You’re part of that,” Skye said with a smile, “A distant cousin that drops by every once and awhile, someone everyone loves to see and wishes would visit more.” 

“Next time it’s your turn to visit me. I have a ten year old that would love to talk computers with you,” Harry said with a smile, thinking of how immersed Teddy had become in muggle technology since being at school in America and meeting Misty. Of course Harry had told him not to use magic round anything electronic as they couldn’t be guaranteed what the results might be. 

“I might just take you up on that,” Skye said, grateful that she had had this opportunity to talk to Harry. She was seriously going to take him up on his offer, who wouldn't have? She would have been crazy to turn down the opportunity to meet Captain America. Plus their kids would be absolutely adorable, not to mention fascinating to study. 

“Please do, seriously. Given the highlight of my week is often watching my 10 month old twins pulling faces at each other, I would love you to come and tell me what you guys have been up to.” Harry was sincere in his offer, it would be nice to actually have friends in America; right now he was so totally alone that it was seriously affecting his mental stability. 

“Next time we are around for a few days, I’ll give you a call,” Skye said as she finished her drink. For a second she debated on another but then thought better of it, they would be back on the job tomorrow and she needed to have her wits about her. “Right now though, I need sleep.” 

Harry nodded his head and downed the last of his drink, knowing that she was right and it was high time that they retired to bed. Harry would have a lot of explaining to do when he got home and he would need a clear head for it. The two of them paid up their tab at the bar before heading up to their rooms for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that this extra long chapter was worth the wait. I would love to know your thoughts. Please leave me a comment and let me know. If I've planned it all out correctly there is only one more chapter for this Intermission story before I start on the next segment of Affliction of War which is Affliction of War: The Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D, which takes place over the events of The Winter Soldier and slightly beyond that.


	4. Part Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry comes home to a surprise, Harry and Steve improve their relationship and they all spend Christmas and New Year in England with the Weasley family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Final Installment of the Intermission chapters, putting us three months until the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is where Affliction of War: The Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D will start.

The next morning Harry was feeling rather under the weather after his night of heavy drinking. Phil popped his head into Harry’s hotel room to let him know that he and the team were leaving, having had a call to attend an evaluation for a woman in Batesville, who appeared to have telekinetic powers. By eight in the morning, a couple hours after the others had left the hotel, Harry had finally stopped vomiting and was ready to leave. He had prepared a portkey and was readying himself to travel back to America, feeling nothing like his normal self and dreading returning home, for no other reason than the lecture he would no doubt receive from Steve. 

When he arrived back, it would be three in the morning back in Washington but Harry wanted to surprise his family and be there when they all woke up. He wanted to cook pancakes for them all and spend the day playing with his twins and simply enjoy his family. He found that he was rather looking forward to it; he missed his children. He wasn’t looking forward to the confrontation with Steve but he did want to see him. 

Taking the portkey in hand, Harry took a deep breath and a moment later he felt the familiar pull behind his navel, which, of course, didn’t make his nausea any better. The second that he landed in his living room, Harry had to make a fast dash to the downstairs bathroom where he promptly vomited into the toilet once again, almost missing it in his haste. Muggle alcohol normally didn’t affect him like this, only firewhiskey got to him this badly, though it had been awhile since he had had a proper drink. 

With his head throbbing from dry heaving so much, Harry tiptoed up the stairs, wanting to look in on his children before he started to make breakfast. His first stop was the twins room; he peered down into each of their cots and smiled fondly at the sight of both of them sleeping peacefully. Harry didn’t realise just how much he had missed Sarah and JJ until he finally laid eyes on them. Not wanting to wake them, he quietly shut the door, moving down the hall to Teddy’s bedroom. 

He suspected that Misty was in the guest room; he didn’t think that Steve was naive enough to put Misty and Teddy in the same room, they were still so young but Harry still didn’t think that it would be appropriate. Opening the door and peering inside, Harry was momentarily confused as there didn’t appear to be anyone in Teddy’s bed at all. Trying not to panic, Harry went into the room and searched everywhere but found no sign of the ten year old. 

Thinking that he might have fallen asleep in Misty’s room, Harry quickly made his way there. Opening the door Harry was horrified to find that the guest bedroom was just as empty. It took only two minutes for Harry to search the house from top to bottom and determine that neither Teddy nor Misty were anywhere to be found. He even used magic, casting the spell to detect anyone who might be in the house, there were only three others aside from him when their should have been five. The second that Harry knew for certain that the ten and eleven year old were missing, he went straight to his room to wake Steve. 

“Wake up,” Harry said urgently, shaking his husband, “wake up. Teddy and Misty are gone!” Harry’s whole body was shaking with fear about what could have happened to the two young children. All manner of things were racing through his mind, memories of the last time Teddy had gone missing coming to the forefront of his mind in his panic. 

“Harry…?” Steve groaned, blinking his eyes open and peering up at the person who was still shaking him almost violently. “You’re home,” he said groggily, when he realised that it really was his husband leaning over him. “When did you get back?”

“Forget that,” Harry said impatiently, wanting his husband to focus on the matter at hand. “Teddy and Misty aren’t in the house! I can’t find them.”

“They’re fine, they’re in their rooms,” Steve said, still half asleep. He was happy to see his husband and just wished that Harry would stop shouting and just join him in bed so that they could get themselves reaquainted. 

“No they’re not!” Harry said, panicking to the extreme at this point. Teddy was his Godson and in his charge, he couldn’t believe that he was gone. “I’ve searched this house from top to bottom and they’re not here!” 

Groaning, Steve sat up in bed, trying to get his head around what his husband was saying. He didn’t know how Teddy and Misty could be missing, he had put them both to bed the night before and everything had been fine. The twins hadn’t woken up at all through the night and Steve had been able to get an early night himself. He had checked on all of the children before he had gone to bed and they’d all been where they were supposed to be. 

“They’re probably just playing hide and seek or something, those two like their privacy,” Steve said as Harry rather violently threw a pair of jeans and a t-shirt towards his husband, who was only wearing boxers. Normally, Harry would have taken the opportunity to fully admire and appreciate the sight of his partially undressed super soldier husband but now was not the time. 

“Misty might be able to turn herself invisible but Teddy can’t!” Harry shouted, completely unamused by the fact that Steve just didn’t believe him. “And they can’t get round the spell I used to detect if there was anyone in this house. They aren’t here and the longer you don’t believe me, the longer that they’re out there on their own!” 

\-------x 

At half ten, earlier that evening, Steve had gone to bed, exhausted from his day of child care. Misty, having turned invisible, had snuck into Teddy’s bedroom and together they had waited. When the two of them were sure that Steve was asleep they had snuck out of the house, with the help of some magic from Teddy to make sure that they weren’t heard. 

Between the two of them, they had come up with a plan to find Harry. They were smart enough to know that they wouldn’t be able to get anywhere close to anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. who might have been able to help them; it was unlikely that they would get told anything and it was probable that Steve would be alerted and they would simply be sent home the second they reached the Triskelion. This is why they were going to someone who would be able to get them what they wanted, Harry back at home. 

Their plan was to drive the four hours from Washington to New York and gate crash Avengers Tower. Jarvis was going to be a lot easier to get passed compared to hundreds of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Teddy didn’t want to question Misty’s knowledge on hotwiring cars, he just accepted it, just as she accepted the fact he was able to unlock a car and silence the alarm with a wave of a wooden stick. 

By the time it had been noticed that they were missing from their beds, Teddy and Misty had arrived in New York, dumping the car outside of Avengers tower, narrowly avoiding hitting a street light in the process. Despite the fact it was three in the morning, their presence was immediately picked up by the high-tech security equipment guarding the tower. Happy was the first one out, gun raised. Misty, being as nervous as she was, immediately turned invisible; it hadn’t even been intentional, simply a gut reaction to having a gun pointed at her.

“We’re friends,” Teddy said at once, trying to make himself sound braver than he felt. “I’m Harry Potter’s Godson, he’s known as Blackbird, I’ve trained at S.H.I.E.L.D. and know Phil Coulson. We only want to see Tony Stark.” It took a lot for his own ability as a metamorphmagus not to be triggered as he battled his own fear about what could happen if he couldn’t convince these people that they were no danger to anyone in the tower.

“Where did your friend go?” Happy asked. He kept his voice very firm, not relenting at all just because these were children. He would not put any of the Avengers currently in the tower in jeopardy for any reason. 

“She’s special, we both are,” Teddy said, his hands now raised so that he wasn’t perceived as a threat. All the while a long list of spells that he knew was running through his mind in case it came down to defending himself and Misty from a spray of bullets. “We’re with S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Teddy said again,.“Captain America is my guardian, he’s married to Blackbird, you can check all of this if you don’t believe me.” 

“They’re kids,” another of the security guards whispered to Happy, not feeling entirely comfortable with aiming a gun towards a child who looked damn near terrified. 

“Take them into the detention room while I confirm with Mr Stark,” Happy said, stowing his gun back into it’s holster and watching as Teddy breathed a sigh of relief and Misty suddenly reappeared out of thin air, half hidden behind Teddy.

The two of them were very quickly escorted into a plain grey room that had a table and two chairs but nothing else. The two children shared a rather apprehensive look as they were sealed inside, wondering if this was really a good idea. Happy in the meantime went to wake Tony, who probably wasn’t going to happy about being dragged from his bed. 

\---------x 

“So they’re safe?” Harry said with a sigh of relief down the phone. He was so thankful that Tony had had the forethought to call when the two young children had arrived at Avenger’s tower. He felt such a weight lift off of him when he knew that Teddy and Misty were safe. 

Steve was sat close by, looking extremely concerned as he listened in to what Harry was saying on the phone. He was kicking himself for allowing this to happen, he had no idea why Teddy and Misty would have run off like this. Mostly though, Steve was just glad that Harry was finally home. 

“I’ll come and collect them now,” Harry said. “Thank you, Tony, I won’t be long.” With that Harry hung up the phone letting out a long breath. He was so happy that they were both safe and being well looked after at Avenger’s Tower but that did very little to change how on edge he was feeling. He knew he wouldn’t feel truly calm again until Teddy was back with him. 

They had been on the verge of calling S.H.I.E.L.D. and asking for their help, which could have been very embarrassing considering Misty was supposed to be in a S.H.I.E.L.D. orphanage. But thankfully Tony had called them just in time, informing them that Misty and Teddy had given Happy and the Tower’s security detail quite a fright, but that both of them were unharmed and perfectly safe.

“I’m sorry, Harry,” Steve said, his arms folded over his chest to keep from reaching for his husband; he didn’t think that Harry would welcome such affection at the moment, least of all from him. Steve was feeling rather hopeless; It summed up how he had been feeling since Harry had left, if he were honest with himself, but he couldn’t have failed more than losing two of the children in his care. 

“At least they’re safe,” Harry said with a weary sigh, running his hand over his face. He knew that his husband had done his very best, not that that had been good enough. “I’ll apparate to them and bring them home. It’ll be quicker. I assume you can handle the twins on your own?” 

“Don’t be like that, Harry,” Steve said a little heatedly; he knew that he had let Harry down and felt terrible about that, but he would never have deliberately let anything happen to any of their children. “You up and left, leaving me with three children. I did the best that I could.” 

“And I do the best that I can every single day that you’re not here,” Harry argued, his arms flailing as his fear for Teddy and anger at the situation started to boil over. “I’m an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. just as much as you, Steve! And yet, I’ve been staying at home with the children since they were born while you up and left time and time again.” Harry was fuming mad at this point; he had been doing everything for his family since the twins were born but he was an Auror and an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. too. Just because he had been the one to birth the children they had together didn’t mean that everything he had been trained for, everything that he was, just went away.

“You’re their mother!” Steve said, fully believing that it was Harry’s role to take care of the children; it was the way that he had been brought up. He did understand that his views were a little outdated, however, he honestly thought everything had been alright between them, not perfect but not as broken as this either. 

“And you're their father!” Harry snapped back, needing Steve to actually step up and act like it. “And you managed to lose Teddy and Misty! These children are our responsibility, one that you clearly can’t handle. Now if you’ll excuse me, I don’t have time for this conversation,” he said, as he quickly made sure he had everything he needed, “I have to go and get our children back.” 

Steve didn’t want to leave things as they were between them, but he didn’t know what to say. Harry had a point when he said that he had failed as a father. However, he had been thrown in at the deep end when Harry had left, he hadn’t been equipped to deal with three children on his own, let alone four when Misty had arrived. Harry had just assumed that his husband could take care of their children when that was clearly not the case. Steve was cross with both Harry and himself with how out of his depth he had felt, but Harry hadn’t given him any guidance at all before rushing off and he had never had to take care of them alone before this. 

Steve had been about to point this out when Harry vanished from in front of him with a loud crack. He truly hated that weird mode of transportation Harry had at his disposal, it was beyond frustrating when he had not finished what was saying. Clenching his fists, Steve tried to control his rage as he heard the twins start to stir upstairs. 

\---------x 

Teddy and Misty were sat in one of the living areas when Harry arrived. The two children both sipping on large, steaming mugs of hot chocolate and looking a little sheepish when they saw Harry step out of the lift and start coming towards them. Tony was the only one sat with them, having excused the security guards after determining who it was that had tried to infiltrate Avengers tower. 

“Thank you,” Harry said, looking to Tony first, grateful for the fact that he had kept an eye on the troublesome youths since they had arrived. “I was worried sick about them when I got home and they weren’t there.” 

“It’s alright,” Tony said, stifling a yawn. “I think they were looking for you though,” he added with a pointed expression to Harry. He knew that his fellow Avenger had been out on a mission; Tony made sure that he was kept informed of all the goings on in S.H.I.E.L.D., whether the secret organisation knew about it or not. 

“I was called away to help Coulson in England. Thor made a little bit of a mess in central London,” Harry said with a grin. 

“Ah yes, I did see that. How is our thundering friend?” Tony asked. He had kept a close eye on what was going on in England with Jane and Thor but with everything that he had going on with his company and not to mention in his personal life, he just couldn’t justify dropping everything and going to help. Things were not going smoothly with Pepper and these things were not helped by his continued contact with Draco. 

“On earth again, I think permanently this time too,” Harry informed him, “though I think he might be spending some time reacquainting with Jane after their lengthy time apart.” 

“Speaking of a lengthy time apart,” Tony said with a meaningful glance towards Teddy and Misty, “I take it the good Captain hasn’t taken to single fatherhood very well.” 

“I wasn’t gone that long,” Harry said with a sigh, “I just don’t think he knew what it meant to take care of three children, all of them with rather unique abilities.” There was a small part of him that was glad that Steve had struggled so much, in that it might help Steve to understand what Harry went through every day taking care of their children, but he hadn’t anticipated Steve having this much trouble. “I thought he could handle it, I manage it every day.” 

“But he isn’t you,” Tony pointed out, having always been impressed with how well Harry seemed to juggle everything in his life. “These two were telling me that he struggled with just the twins, let alone anything else. Now with these two disappearing off as they have, he’ll be feeling even worse about his parenting skills.” 

“Well it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to go anywhere for awhile now,” Harry said rather defeatedly. He didn’t want to resign himself to a life of being a house-husband but it didn’t seem that he was going to be able to have a life of his own until his twins were old enough to look after themselves. One thing was for certain, he wasn’t having any other children, the four they had already were more than enough.

“Mum…” Teddy said quietly, feeling a little guilty now he could see how stressed Harry was. “Can we go home?” Misty nodded her head silently in agreement, curling up close to Teddy, needing the comfort from him. It had been a very long night but at the very least they had got what they had wanted. Harry was back. 

Harry sighed and nodded his head. He would take Teddy and Misty home and settle them down to sleep. It was starting to make Harry think that going home could mean more than returning to Washington. He was wondering if it might be for the best if they all returned to England for a while. Harry knew that Steve wouldn’t be happy with this plan but Harry had had enough of being stuck here where he didn’t know anyone and had no support with the twins. 

“Take care of these two,” Tony said with a wink to Teddy and Misty, “they’re something special. Stealing a car and driving from Washington to New York, now that is something that I can’t help but admire.”

“Not something I really want to encourage,” Harry said pointedly to Tony as he encouraged Teddy and Misty up off the sofa, glaring at the two of them. “Your father is worried sick about you; we’re going to have a long discussion about what you’ve done when we get home.”

Teddy and Misty nodded their heads, almost in unison as they joined hands, coming towards Harry, looking extremely ashamed of what they had done. They hadn’t meant to cause so much worry and upset but at least Harry was back and things could get back to normal, or as normal as things ever really got for them. 

\----------x 

No sooner had Harry arrived home with Teddy and Misty, than did Steve grab his jacket and walk out of the house without saying a word. Sarah and JJ were in their highchairs eating breakfast, both squealing happily at the sight of their mother. Harry couldn’t help but feel like crying as he heard the sound of his husband's motorcycle start up as the super soldier left their home. 

“Where’s Dad going?” Teddy asked a little fearfully. He had only wanted to bring Harry back, he hadn’t wanted to break their family apart, quite the opposite really. He didn’t want to think that he and Misty had been the cause of their peculiar little family breaking apart. 

“I don’t know,” Harry said with a tired sigh, even though he had only been awake a few hours. “You two go upstairs and get some rest, you must be exhausted. Set your alarms for midday though or you won’t sleep tonight.” 

“I’m really sorry, Mum,” Teddy said and Misty nodded her head in agreement to this sentiment. “We just wanted you home,” he added and Harry couldn’t help but smile, opening his arms for the two of them. Teddy and Misty went willingly into the embrace, wanting the comfort of being close to Harry. 

“Bed, both of you,” Harry said fondly to them, thinking that the serious discussions could wait until Teddy and Misty were a little more well rested. He had the twins to take care of and he would also have to talk to Coulson about Misty; there was no way that she could stay at the foster home now, not if what she was saying was the truth. She had already settled into their family and Harry knew that Teddy would be heartbroken if they sent her away. It seemed that Misty was simply part of their family, Harry just had to make it official. 

Teddy and Misty both nodded their heads, wanting to do as they were told for once. It had been an extremely long day for the two of them, neither of them having slept all night. Both of them were more than ready for some sleep. 

\--------x

Steve hadn’t consciously decided to go anywhere, he had just known that he needed to leave the house. When he had ended up in the basement garage of Avenger’s tower, parking his bike, he knew that this was where he needed to be. At least he was safe here and he had friends that would listen as he vented his frustrations over his failing relationship. 

It seemed that Tony wasn’t surprised to see him; however, Natasha did seem a little taken aback and she handed over a twenty dollar bill to Stark with a huff as Steve collapsed down on the sofa, looking utterly fed up. Both Tony and Natasha just seemed to understand the mood that Steve was in and waited for him to speak first. 

“I’m failing miserably,” he finally said, leaning forward and putting his head in his hands. “I can’t even look after my own children.” Tony took this as his cue to take a seat beside his friend. Natasha on the other hand remained where she was, watching and listening. 

“You’re not failing,” Tony said, wanting to comfort his friend, though he knew that he couldn’t exactly lie to Steve, “you didn’t handle it brilliantly but you aren’t a failure. Four rugrats is a lot for anyone to handle and to be honest I don’t know how Harry does it.” 

“I just can’t help but feel as if Harry doesn’t love me any more. Everything about our relationship was rushed. Sex, marriage, kids… it all happened at hyper speed and we never really stopped to think if it was a good idea or not.” Steve hated that things were falling apart so quickly, he wanted so badly to fix it but he wasn’t sure that he was going to be able to. 

“Relationships are hard,” Tony said, “I can’t tell you how many arguments that I’ve had with Pepper and she still seems to tolerate me but it isn’t easy. It isn’t like either of you have ever tried having a serious relationship. Harry has freely admitted he was whatever a male version of a whore before you and you, well, you were on ice.” 

“I’ll leave you boys to it,” Natasha said quickly. She had heard enough and she knew what it was that she had to do. Standing here eavesdropping wasn’t going to help matters, she just wanted Steve to be happy, with no added drama. Without another word she slipped from the room, formulating a plan in her mind as she went. 

“I want to fix things,” Steve said with a sigh, “I just don’t understand how!”

“Whenever I fuck things up I just buy Pepper presents, sometimes it works,” Tony said with a shrug, not knowing what else to suggest. He usually messed things up massively, the fact that she was still around in his life was a shock to him. 

“I don’t think gifts are going to solve our problems,” Steve said feeling a little hopeless. “Harry is… well he’s not like anyone that I’ve ever met before. Before the war, before I became a soldier, everything was so simple. Find a girl, marry her and raise a family, it’s so much more complicated now. Harry wants to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and I need to be as well.” 

“If that’s the case, why not suggest a S.H.I.E.L.D. nanny. They can be trusted with the extra abilities and they’re vetted by S.H.I.E.L.D. on top of that,” Tony suggested, thinking that having an added pair of hands to help with the children might be just what the couple needed. 

“I’ll talk to Harry,” Steve said with a sigh, thinking the idea over. A nanny to help out wouldn’t be a bad idea, especially one recommended and vetted by S.H.I.E.L.D.. It would mean that both he and Harry would be able to continue their work without either one of them feeling trapped at home with the children. The idea certainly had a lot of merit. “Would it be possible to stay here for a couple of days?” Steve asked hopefully. “I just want to have some space for a day or two, before I go home.” 

“Sure,” Tony said with a shrug, not minding the company at all. Each of the Avengers had their own floor and bedroom, it was certainly no skin off his nose to allow Steve to stay in the tower. “Though I want your opinion if you do,” he added as an afterthought, thinking that if there was anyone’s opinion he valued, it was Steve’s. 

“Okay,” Steve said warily; it wasn’t often that Tony asked for the input of others so Steve was rather intrigued as to what it might be. 

“I’ve been wanting to give this to Pepper for a while now,” Tony said, taking an unboxed ring out of his pocket. It was so clearly an engagement ring that Steve had to roll his eyes over the fact that Tony was simply carrying it around in his pocket as if it were loose change. 

“What’s stopping you?” Steve asked, watching as Stark fiddled with the white gold ring, playing with it as he stared at it so intently. 

“Draco,” Tony said honestly. “I’ve never met a man like him.” 

“I didn’t realise that the two of you were still in contact,” Steve said, trying to hide his displeasure at the sound of Draco’s name. He still wasn’t keen on the blond male, ever since he had found out that Harry had slept with him. Though, the super soldier had to admit that if Tony hooked up with Draco it would certainly mean that Draco would no longer be a threat to his and Harry’s relationship. 

“Frequently,” Tony explained, “I get all these weird feelings that I can’t explain when I’m around him and when we talk, and things have been so complicated with Pepper recently. I honestly don’t know what I want to do.” 

“I don’t think that getting engaged to Pepper is going to help solve your problem,” Steve said truthfully. He didn’t think that Tony getting married to someone when he thought he might be in love with someone else was a very good idea. It seemed to Steve that being an Avenger made relationships nigh on impossible. 

“I’ve had this ring since before I met Draco, I just haven’t found the right time to… you know, actually ask her,” Tony said with a sigh, slipping the ring back into his pocket. “I just can’t figure out what I want but I know for a fact that if I take the next step with Draco then it’ll be over between Pepper and I, she wouldn’t forgive me for cheating.” 

“I don’t think that I have the extensive knowledge needed to give you relationship advice here; Harry and I are struggling, more than I’d like to admit. Getting married didn’t fix our problems, if anything it gave us more,” Steve said, wanting to give Tony the best advice he could on the matter. “Perhaps the best thing to do is to keep that ring in your pocket for a little while longer, just until you figure out what you really want.” 

\---------x

Harry spent the rest of that day and then a sleepless night lying in bed, not knowing where Steve had gone and wondering if he would ever be coming back to his family. Harry woke up rather suddenly the next morning after only two hours of sleep, early enough that the twins were not yet awake, his stomach churning horribly. He had to make a mad dash to the toilet to throw up rather violently. It took him a few moments before he realised what it was that had woken him. Someone was at the front door. 

“Auntie Nat,” Harry heard Teddy say excitedly before he dry heaved again, his stomach empty. There followed a muffled conversation that Harry couldn’t make out as he continued to heave, unable to catch his breath, before he felt the familiar presence of Nastha behind him. 

“You alright?” she asked, looking down at him with concern. She didn’t have much of a bedside manor and it wasn’t as if she had much practice tending to the sick. 

“Yeah, just another sign I’m getting old,” Harry said with a weak chuckle, slumping back against the cool tiled wall a little out of breath. 

“What do you mean?” Natasha asked confused, offering him a hand up. 

“The night before last I went out drinking with a friend of mine, female before you ask,” Harry said quickly before Natasha could accuse him of anything, accepting her help to clamber to his feet, “clearly my hangovers are getting worse with age.” 

“You clean up,” she said a little stiffly, not approving of the drinking at all. It wasn’t that she was adverse to a little tipple herself, just not to the extent which Harry seemed to enjoy it. “I’m going to put the kettle on.” 

Half an hour later and Harry and Natasha were sat at the kitchen table. Sarah and JJ were in their highchairs attempting to eat toast and making a mess. Teddy and Misty had taken their breakfast into the living room to watch cartoons and for once Harry didn’t mind this as he had a feeling that whatever Natasha had to say would need to be said in private. 

“Is Steve alright?” Harry asked, worried that Natasha was here because something had happened to his husband. 

“He’s fine, he’s at Avenger’s tower with Tony,” Natasha informed him. “Those two are having a right old time hashing out their relationship woes.” 

“As long as he’s okay,” Harry said with a sigh, hating that Steve and Tony had enough relationship issues between them to justify a sleepover or two. 

“I think that the two of you need to either talk this out or you walk away,” Natasha said rather bluntly. Harry was used to the way she was and he didn’t falter at the suggestion, though it was mainly because he had been wondering if he and Steve were going to be able to work it out at all. It had crossed his mind that he might have to walk away. 

“I want to make it work,” Harry told her with a sigh, “things are just difficult.” 

“How are things difficult?” Natasha asked, wanting to know. She genuinely liked Harry and Steve, she wanted to see them happy and together, not miserable and fighting. She couldn’t help but glance at the two beautiful children sat beside them, still munching on soggy toast, cooing at once another. 

“I’m a trained spy in my world, I’m a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent here and all I’m doing is babysitting my children, I’ve become a housewife. Don’t get me wrong, I love my children, it just feels like I’m wasting my skills. All I want is for Steve to take his share of the responsibility when it comes to the kids. How would you feel if you were a mum? Would you give up who you are?” 

“It’ll never be an option for me,” Natasha said rather matter of factly. 

“Why? Don’t you want children?” Harry asked, looking at his friend with curiosity as he put the other half of the toast on Sarah and JJ’s highchair trays. 

“It isn’t an option because I physically can’t,” Natasha said matter of factly, “part of my training to become who I am meant becoming sterile. It was one less thing to worry about, the mission was all that matters.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Harry said, shocked at what Natasha had told him and a small nagging voice in the back of his mind wondering if he might be able to help her with magic. 

“It’s done,” she said, brushing it off, “I told you because you need to know how lucky you are to have what you have. I agree that your talents are wasted here but that is something that you need to tell Steve so that the two of you can work it out. If you want to work it out that is.” 

“I want to,” Harry said with a sigh. He might have been unhappy with Steve now but that didn’t mean he truly wanted to leave him. He couldn’t imagine his life without his super soldier husband, just him on his own with the four children. “I also want to help you, if you’ll let me.” 

“How could you help me?” Natasha asked, a little confused; she wasn’t aware that there was anything that she needed help with. No one knew about her intimate feelings for Bruce and she was going to make sure that it stayed that way. There were many secrets that she was keeping and she would continue to keep them. 

“If it was possible, would you want to have a child?” Harry asked, his mind going into overdrive about all the different spells and potions he had seen in books and wondering if they would work on a muggle. If they did, Harry was sure that he would be able to give her back her ability to have children. 

“I haven’t ever thought about it. I came to terms with the fact I couldn’t have a child a long time ago,” she said, becoming a little agitated by the topic of conversation. She couldn’t help but feel that Harry was simply trying to change the subject but that didn’t stop her mind from wandering off in a direction she hadn’t let herself consider in a long time. 

“I can’t make promises,” Harry added quickly, not knowing if he truly would be able to help, “but if it is something you were interested in, there might be something that Draco and I could help you with. It is amazing what magic and potions can do,” he said with a fond glance over towards the twins, who were animatedly babbling to each other about something or other.

“I’ll think about it,” Natasha said, not really sure how to feel about that possibility. It had been easy for her to not consider her true desires when there had been no choice to make, but Harry had complicated things once again and she wasn’t quite sure whether or not to be glad for that yet. 

“Of course,” Harry told her with a nod of his head, not wanting to push the issue but just glad to have something else to think on other than his failing marriage. “Will you let Steve know that we want him home?”

Natasha nodded, her swirling thoughts hidden behind a calm facade. “You going to be okay?” she asked, not sure that she should be leaving Harry alone, particularly given how sick he had been when she arrived. 

“I’ll be okay,” Harry assured her, touched by her concern. “Besides, Bruce said he would be over tomorrow morning. I have some theories on how magic might be able to help him too.”

“Just be careful with Bruce,” Natasha said as she got to her feet, treading carefully with what she said, she didn’t want Harry to figure her out, “he’s more fragile than the rest of us.” 

Harry smiled knowingly. “Okay,” he said trying to keep the happiness out of his voice as he too stood up, knowing that this meeting was over. “I won’t get his hopes up,” he added, having a small inkling about why Natasha would ask this of him. 

“Don’t worry, Steve will come home,” she told him confidently, as she headed out of the room, towards the front door, Harry following behind her to see her out. “He just needs a little time. And be honest when he does,” she advised.

“I hope you’re right,” Harry muttered under his breath as he leaned against the doorframe of his home and watched his friend leave. He could hear his twins squawking for his attention and with a sigh he shut the front door and went to tend to them. 

 

\----------x

 

Harry had been hoping for a quiet morning with his children after Natasha had left, but that hope had quickly disappeared when Coulson turned up on his doorstep less than an hour later. He had been putting off talking to Teddy and Misty about what they had done, and talking to Coulson about Misty, but it seemed to all be catching up with him now. 

“Come in,” Harry said, gesturing Phil into the house and closing the door behind him. “How was Batesville?” he asked, ushering Phil into the living room where Teddy and Misty were playing with Sarah and JJ, rolling a ball around on the floor to each other. 

“Well it wasn’t telekinetic powers as we had first thought,” Phil said, taking a seat on the sofa and watching with a smile as the four youngsters played happily together. 

“Interesting. What was it?” Harry asked curiously. He loved hearing about the many adventures that Coulson and his team went on. Harry felt honoured that he had been able to be part of some of them and slightly gutted that he hadn’t been able to go with them this time. 

“I’m not here to talk about Batesville,” Phil said with a sigh, “though perhaps I can catch you up on that later. For now I think we have more important matters to discuss.” 

“Yes,” Harry said, glancing over to Teddy and Misty, “we have a problem to solve.” 

“I think that it’s a problem that has already been solved,” Phil said, his gaze switching over from Harry to Misty, who was clearly trying to pretend she wasn’t listening to every word being said. “She seems to have settled in well here.” 

“If you consider stealing a car and driving from Washington to New York, settling in,” Harry said with a small smile. He had been worried sick about the two of them, however, now that he knew that they were both safe, Harry couldn’t help but be a little impressed by what they had done. 

“For these two... Phil said, returning the grin. “Chameleon still has quite the reputation at the S.H.I.E.L.D. academy and now Ghost is making a name for herself too; the two of them are making quite the pair.”

“And think, they’re only ten and eleven,” Harry said with a sigh. He knew that eventually the two of them would be separated, it was inevitable. Teddy would be leaving for Hogwarts in just ten months time. 

“Which is why I think that Misty would be in the best place possible for her if she were to remain here with you,” Phil said. He had been thinking about it a lot and he couldn’t think of any better options, or in fact any options at all. No one else would be able to handle Misty and there was already a full investigation going on in the last place she had been placed. 

“Oh can I, please?” Misty said from her position on the floor, JJ in her lap, the baby boy gurgling happily. “I’ll behave, I promise,” she added, “I just don’t want to go back to that home, it was awful there.” 

“A decision like that…” Harry said, wanting to say yes straight away, but knowing that he needed to consult with his husband. “Steve and I should talk first.” 

“Mum, please,” Teddy begged, “she has nowhere else to go.” 

“He’ll say no,” Misty said sadly, struggling not to tear up at the prospect of being refused a home here, a family. “He won’t want me here, not after what we did.” 

“Misty,” Harry said calmly, “I want you here, Teddy wants you here. Steve will as well but I have to talk to him first; we’re a family, he’s my husband, we make these decisions together.”

“And where is your overly-patriotic other half?” Phil asked curiously, hoping to catch a glimpse of his childhood hero again. 

“In New York with Tony,” Harry said, not wanting to let on how bad things were with the two of them. “I think the two of them are living it up somewhat.” 

“It’s a shame that I missed him, perhaps I will swing by New York. My team and I are on a short sabbatical until the New Year, so I have some time.” 

“Sounds like a plan, Phil, I only wish that I could join you,” Harry said to him, wishing that he could just pack up his things and go chasing after Steve, wanting more than anything to make it right with his husband. However, he just couldn’t, not with his children all there. “Misty, you have nothing to worry about,” he assured the young girl, seeing the still worried expression on her face. “I’m not going to kick you out and I’m certainly not going to send you somewhere that I don’t feel you’re safe. You will always have a place here, whatever happens.” 

“I appreciate that,” Phil said, wanting to speak on the young girl's behalf when she failed to say anything. “I should go, but I am leaving with the knowledge that Misty is in capable hands here,” he said, getting to his feet. 

“You are always welcome here, Phil, and if you ever need me for anything, all you have to do is call. I’m always happy to consult on your cases,” Harry said hopefully, getting to his feet as well. 

“Mum,” Teddy said, “you’re not going away again are you?” he asked, sounding concerned. He didn’t want Harry to leave again, not since just getting him back. Teddy wanted his normal life back, or as normal as it got for them. 

“Not for the moment,” Harry said to Teddy as he motioned for Phil to lead the way to the front door. “It was lovely to see you, Phil, I’ll let you know what we decide about having Misty here permanently.” 

“Thank you,” Phil said as Harry opened the front door, revealing a rather startled looking Bruce Banner, who clearly had been about to knock. “Good afternoon Bruce,” Phil said with amusement, “I’ll leave the two of you to your afternoon.” 

“Hi, I’m sorry I’m early, I finished what I was doing earlier than expected. I hope that’s not a problem,” Bruce said, stepping to one side, allowing Coulson to exit the house. 

“Not at all,” Harry assured him, with a smile. “See you soon, Phil,” Harry called, giving Coulson a small wave, before turning back to the other man. “Come on in, Bruce,” he added, stepping out of the way and allowing his friend entrance. 

“It seems as if you have your hands full,” Bruce said as he stepped inside and allowed Harry to close the door behind him. 

“Oh, Bruce, I always have my hands full,” Harry said with a small laugh. “Would you like some tea? I have earl grey and I’m sure I have some honey too.” 

Bruce couldn’t help but smile. “You remembered,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief, allowing himself to be guided into the living room. The sight that met his eyes made his heart swell in a way that didn’t turn him green; it was beautiful to see the four children playing together so sweetly. 

“I’ll make the tea,” Harry said, enjoying watching Bruce’s face light up at the sight of his children playing. “Then we can talk about why I called,” Harry said, feeling happy at the stream of visitors into his home. It felt as if he had a purpose again. 

\------x

Bruce stayed until Harry had put all four children to bed; it was a nice break from his work to just be domestic and he had found that he rather liked simply spending time around children. Though it did raise the question of why Harry was here alone and what had happened to Steve. Bruce voiced this query, but he almost wished that he hadn’t when Harry went silent, bowing his head in sadness. 

“He’s in New York with Tony,” Harry said softly. He had successfully not thought about his husband since Phil had left, Bruce had been a welcome distraction, but now Harry realised that it was unlikely that Steve would be home tonight. “We’ve had a slight disagreement.” 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Bruce asked, thinking that maybe a shoulder to cry on was what Harry needed, however, the response was Harry shaking his head. 

“No,” he said confidently; he didn’t want to talk anymore, he had had enough of talking about that. “I want to talk to you about the reason I called you here.” Harry needed to keep his mind off things. He would think about it when Steve came home but for now the super soldier needed his space and Harry was going to give him that while waiting for him to come home. 

“Yes, I’m quite fascinated myself. You said something about a potion that might be able to help me but you weren’t specific on the details,” Bruce said as he and Harry settled down in the kitchen with tea. Harry would have much prefered something stronger but he still wasn’t feeling his best and he wasn’t sure that it was a good idea for Bruce to be drinking. 

“I’m not sure how much it would help but I know that you would have already tried everything readily available to you to manage your little green problem. I wanted to give you some more options,” Harry said with a smile, “things that you wouldn’t have had access to.” 

With his interest peaked, Bruce was keen to hear more. “I’m curious to the things that you have access to that I wouldn’t have,” he said, taking a sip of his tea. 

“Where I come from, there are a plethora of magical creatures, vampires, werewolves, things that you wouldn’t think existed. Fairy tale creatures that come straight out of books. The creature that you need to be interested in is the werewolf.” 

“Well, you’ve certainly got my attention,” Bruce said, listening intently, curious as to how this could help him. 

“A friend of mine, someone who died in the war that I fought in as a teenager, Teddy’s father and my Dad’s best friend, he was a werewolf. He taught me so many things but what matters to you is what he used to control his transformations.” 

Bruce sat in silence, listening intently. There was so much to Harry, so many stories that he could tell. The Avengers all had their fair share but Harry’s tales of his past involved magic and monsters as if it was something out of a fairy story. It was a struggle for Bruce to believe that any of it was real; he was a man of science and it seemed unfathomable but Harry spoke with truth and conviction and Bruce wanted so badly for it to be true so that he could finally have something to control the other guy inside of him. 

“Was it magic that he used?” Bruce asked curiously. Harry had never divulged all of the intimate details of his world and Bruce was absolutely fascinated. 

“In a sense, it was a potion called Wolfsbane,” Harry explained. “Now I’m not much of a potion brewer myself but if this is something you decide you want to try then it wouldn’t take me long to acquire an adequate supply to allow for a trial.”

Bruce considered it for a moment. Harry was right about one thing and that was that he had tried everything that was available to him, in this world at least. If there was literally another world out there with a whole collection of new possibilities for him to try then he was more than willing to give anything a go. It wasn’t like he could die; that was another thing that he had tried, but the other guy wouldn’t allow him to die. 

“As long as we can do it in a controlled way, in controlled circumstances, in case something goes wrong, I’m willing to try,” Bruce said, trying not to get his hopes up. He knew that like everything he had tried there was a very slim chance of any of it working. 

“I’m assuming that you have places where you can do these experiments,” Harry said and Bruce nodded his confirmation of this. “Then I’ll get the potion.” 

“I don’t wish to cause you any imposition, but is there any possibility I could stay here tonight. It’s a long drive back to anywhere that is safe for me to sleep and I trust that with all your magic that you would be able to stop me if I became the other guy.” 

Harry couldn’t help but laugh. “Of course you can stay,” he said, certain that Bruce would not become the other guy. If he had any worries on that front he wouldn’t have allowed him into the house at all, not while his children were there. Beside, he could really use the company this evening. 

\-------x

Steve had made the decision, after long and arduous talks with Tony, that he needed to return to his home and his family. He missed his children and he also missed Harry, even despite their arguments. He had come to the conclusion that no matter what, they needed to come to terms with their differences and work together to get a resolution, so at six o’clock in the morning he had grabbed his things, got on his bike and headed for home. 

The feeling of complete freedom he felt on the back of his bike was amazing and it gave him the chance to think too. His mind was completely clear of worry as he drove the four hours from New York to Washington. He pulled into his driveway just after 10am. There was another car parked just outside, one that he didn’t recognize and it put him on high alert instantly. 

Taking his keys out of his jacket, Steve let himself into his home. The sight that met his eyes was one that he didn’t know how to feel about. Bruce Banner was stood in the hallway wearing nothing but a pair of tight white pants and holding a giggling Sarah in his arms. 

“What’s going on?” Steve asked, dropping his bag on to the floor and moving to take his daughter, who had her arms stretched out towards him, wanting her Daddy. 

“Harry’s washing my clothes,” Bruce said, not having expected for Steve to walk in at that moment. He honestly didn’t know what to say, everything had happened so quickly this morning that his mind was still in a muddle. 

“Okay,” Steve said, feeling rather confused about what was going on himself. “And where is my husband?” he asked, feeling a little put out by Bruce’s state of undress. 

“Cleaning up JJ; he threw up his breakfast all over himself and all over me,” Bruce explained as Teddy and Misty ran into the hallway to see what all the fuss was about. The two of them stopped dead at the sight of Steve, not having expected to see him back. 

“Is he alright?” Steve asked, concerned for his son as he cradled his daughter close to him. He had not been gone long but he had missed her. 

“He’s fine,” Harry said, coming down the stairs, JJ perched on one hip, freshly dressed in clean clothes free of vomit. “His eyes were bigger than his belly,” Harry explained with a fond laugh, cooing at his child. 

“Dad,” Teddy said, charging in with a huge grin on his face. When Steve had stormed out of the family home upon Harry’s return two days before, Teddy had been overly concerned that he and Misty had been the cause of the breakdown of his adoptive parents’ marriage and he didn’t like thinking that. 

The ten year old boy flung his arms around Steve’s waist and hugged him, Misty standing well back looking absolutely terrified. She knew that this could very well be the last day she spent in this house. She didn’t want to leave Teddy but this wasn’t her family, she was the intruder here and they had every right to ask her to leave. 

“Bruce, I don’t suppose you could put some clothes on,” Steve said, feeling more than a little awkward with Bruce just wearing his underwear. Harry had to bite his lip to keep from laughing, he knew exactly what it was that his husband had thought when he walked through the door and it didn’t half amuse him. 

“He doesn’t have any,” Harry said, trying very hard not to break down into fits of laughter, “I put them in the washing machine.” 

“Then he can have some of mine,” Steve said quickly, “You could make them fit right, Harry? With your magic?” 

Now Harry just couldn’t help himself, he laughed and nodded his head, rather glad that Steve was suffering so much with the simple fact that Bruce was mostly naked in their hallway. “Teddy, go and fetch a pair of your dad’s trousers and a shirt, I’ll make them fit.” 

“Go on,” Steve said when Teddy was reluctant to let go. “I’m not going anywhere for a long while. Do as your mum says.” Still unsure, Teddy hesitated for a moment more until Steve added, “I swear to you, Teddy, I am not leaving.” Reluctantly, Teddy nodded, releasing his hold on Steve and going to do what Harry had asked, Misty following after him. 

When Bruce was finally dressed, Steve seemed to relax a little more, helping Harry to settle the twins into their pushchair. Bruce had offered to take all four of the children to the park down the street so that Harry and Steve could have the privacy they needed to talk.

“Are you sure that you’re going to be okay?” Steve asked, unsure how Bruce was going to be able to manage with the twins plus Teddy and Misty all on his own. 

“I’ll be fine,” Bruce said, trying to reassure his friend, “we’re not going far and I’ll be back in a couple hours, I’m even taking my cell phone with me. You two just talk, figure things out.” 

“We’ll be good,” Misty promised quietly from where she was standing very close to Teddy, still looking nervous. Teddy nodded his agreement fervently, eager for his adoptive parents to work out their problems. 

“Of course,” Steve muttered quietly as Bruce let the four children towards the front door, “you’ll behave for Bruce.” There was at least part of him that hoped that Bruce would struggle so that someone might actually understand how hard it was taking care of four young children, all with their own special abilities; but he suspected that Teddy and Misty, at least, would be true to their word and be good as gold while in Bruce’s care.

“They don’t behave perfectly for me either,” Harry pointed out. “We’re their parents, they are always going to push us much more than anyone else.”

“We’ll leave you two to chat,” Bruce said as he guided the pushchair out of the house, Teddy and Misty following behind him. Harry stood at the door, watching them leave, Steve at his back, a hand resting on Harry’s shoulder. 

“He’s right, we really should talk,” Harry said with a sigh, shutting the door and turning to face his husband. Steve nodded in agreement; he had come home to talk to Harry, and was grateful that they would get the chance without the children under their feet, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t dreading this. 

The two of them headed back into the living room, taking seats on either end of the sofa, the awkward tension hanging between them as neither of them quite knew where to start. 

“I’ve been thinking about us a lot in the last few days, while you were gone,” Steve said, thinking that the two of them needed to start somewhere and it was clear that Harry was apparently lost for words. 

“That sounds ominous,” Harry said, worried that Steve was about to end their relationship. He wasn’t sure what he would do if Steve said that he wanted a divorce. 

“No, no, not at all. It’s a good thing,” Steve said quickly. He didn’t want to string this out and he certainly didn’t want Harry to get hurt or misunderstand his intention. “I honestly have no idea how you manage on a day-to-day basis. I admit, I struggled. The three of them are a handful, let alone the now four of them.” 

“It’s hard,” Harry admitted, “especially when you vanish off for days at a time with your work for S.H.I.E.L.D.; I’m a trained agent too and I’m here, playing housewife.” 

“I might have a solution to that,” Steve said, remembering what Tony had suggested. “We both want to continue with our work so why don’t we look into a S.H.I.E.L.D. nanny to look after the kids while we’re working.” 

“A stranger?” Harry asked skeptically. He wasn’t convinced that asking someone they didn’t know to look after their children for days if not weeks at a time. There was no telling how long either of their missions would be. 

“No, not a stranger,” Steve said quickly, wanting to win Harry round with this idea. “We’d know them, at least we would get to know them before we left them with the children. Plus they would be agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., hired specifically for this job.” 

“I think that it might work, besides I think it’s the least that S.H.I.E.L.D. could do for us, especially considering they’re asking us to take Misty in full time.” 

“They want us to take her in permanently?” Steve asked feeling entirely overwhelmed by this. He wasn’t sure that it was such a good idea but equally he didn’t feel like the idea of turning her away either. “What do you think?” 

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Harry admitted. “If you’re open to it then we would have to lay down some ground rules because no matter who is taking care of them we can’t have a repeat of what happened the other day.” 

“I don’t think either of us could cope with Teddy if we decided that she couldn’t stay,” Steve said with a sigh. “If you’re okay with it then I think we can try and make it work. Four is a handful though.” 

“Three is a handful,” Harry said with a laugh, “Adding an eleven year old isn’t going to make too much difference to that. Don’t think we’ll be having any more any time soon though. Four of them is enough.” 

“Agreed,” Steve said with a fond smile to his husband, “though I’m not against having more eventually,” he added, wanting to test the waters on that matter. He envisioned having a large family with Harry and that was coming true all too quickly. 

“Does that mean that you’re not leaving me?” Harry asked, thinking that it was a good sign that Steve was talking about their future. 

“Only if that’s what you want,” Steve said a little solemnly. He hadn’t known before this that Harry was so unhappy but if his husband wanted their marriage to end then there wasn’t much he could do about it. He just hoped that they could make what they had work so they could build a future together. 

“I didn’t want our relationship to be over, Steve,” Harry said with a sigh. “I just want for things to be different. I don’t want to be miserable. All I have is our children; no friends, no family, everyone I know in America is always busy with their S.H.I.E.L.D. work.” 

“I never realised that you felt like this,” Steve said, feeling like an idiot for not releasing it sooner. He should have known that Harry was struggling and yet he had missed it. “I know it’s a big thing for you, living in another country and I wish there was a way around it but S.H.I.E.L.D. is here…”

“I’m not asking you to leave America,” Harry said with a soft smile, “you’re Captain America for goodness sake, but I was thinking that we could go and visit my friends and family for Christmas.” 

Steve thought about it for a moment. He wasn’t keen but then he asked so much of Harry and he knew that he needed to be a little more flexible. There was so much going wrong in their relationship because he hadn’t known what Harry was thinking or feeling, he had just been so busy with his missions and becoming a father. This was something that Harry wanted, and he knew that it would be good for both of them to do this. 

“Alright,” Steve said with a nod of agreement, “We’ll go to England for Christmas, it’ll be nice to see Hermione and Ron again.” He knew that Harry missed his friends and the only reason Steve was reluctant about it was because he knew that one of Harry’s friends was Draco. 

“And when we get back we’ll organise a S.H.I.E.L.D. nanny,” Harry said, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He wished that he could have done this sooner but Steve had never been around for him to talk to. This was what they needed and Harry could only hope that things would get better for the two of them now. 

\-------x 

After their talk, things did improve in the Potter-Roger’s household. Steve agreed to hold off on any new missions to the New Year and Harry agreed the same. They needed time as a family, to get used to being six instead of five now that Misty had officially moved in and been adopted legally. 

Harry still wasn’t feeling great, however, he put it down to the two glasses of wine he would have on a night, his body not having fully adjusting to having alcohol in his system again after abstaining for so long during his pregnancy. He made a mental note to visit Draco at St Mungo’s when he got to London if things didn’t improve; he didn’t want to worry Steve if it was nothing, the problem was there was a nagging voice in the back of his head telling him that he might be pregnant and the nausea that he was feeling was morning sickness. Harry very quickly brushed that aside though, it wasn’t as if they had been having tons of sex recently and he wasn’t showing at all; it was highly unlikely. 

On the twentieth of December, Teddy and Misty had their last day of the school term, both of them arriving back at home in rather jubilant moods. Misty had really come out of her shell in the time that she had been living with them and was a lot more confident in herself. She was really looking forward to the trip to England, never having left the country before. Teddy just wanted to see the Weasley’s again; they were family and a lot of fun to be around, and he couldn’t wait to introduce Misty to every single one of them. 

“When do we leave?” Teddy asked excitedly, bounding up to Harry the second that he walked through the door. He knew that they were flying; it was too difficult to do anything magical with two babies and two muggles in tow, however, due to their position in S.H.I.E.L.D they had been granted use of a jet so that there wouldn’t be an issues with security. 

“This evening,” Harry said with a smile. He too was looking forward to the trip home. JJ, who was balanced on his mother's hip, clapped his hands with excitement. He had picked up on all the happy vibes in the house and even though he didn’t understand it, they were clearly affecting his mood. “Both of you, go and finish packing, the cars are coming to get us in two hours,” he instructed, heading up the stairs to find Steve and Sarah. 

Simply climbing to the top of the stairs winded him a little, something that wasn’t like him at all. Harry had to stop and take a brief moment to catch his breath as he watched Teddy and Misty run past him to get to their bedrooms so that they could finish packing what they wanted to take. Praying that he wasn’t pregnant, Harry went into his and Steve’s room where he found Sarah sitting in Steve’s suitcase on the bed, throwing neatly folded items of clothing out and onto the floor. 

“I see this little monkey isn’t really helping,” Harry said with a chuckle, closing the door and putting JJ on the floor so that he could crawl around. 

“Everytime I take her out and put her on the floor she manages to get back in,” Steve said with exasperation. JJ had not quite made it to walking yet, but Sarah had and was climbing up and into everything. Harry wasn’t worried about his son though, it was simply that he had no motivation to walk; he had mastered levitation and summoning and had become a little lazy with things. Harry was a little amazed at just how strong their magic was but thanks to Draco he had known that this was likely to happen. His magic and Steve’s genes as a super soldier had made them a little different to other magical children. 

“Let me help,” Harry said, highly amused at the whole situation. “Come here, my darling little girl,” he said, swooping Sarah up, out of the suitcase and into his arms making her giggle. “You have to let your Daddy pack his suitcase otherwise we can’t go on holiday in the morning.” 

“Ol-day,” Sarah repeated with a smile on her face, clapping her hands together as Harry went to put her on the floor next to her brother. It seemed that the two of them behaved more when they were together. 

“It’ll be nice to see your friends again,” Steve said with a smile to his husband. He knew that it was long overdue, but they all had small children, making it difficult to travel long distances, something Steve just hadn’t thought about when he had moved them all out to America. He knew he wouldn’t have liked being stuck in England, not knowing anyone and having no purpose, and Steve knew now that he had to give a little more to Harry to make their relationship work and that was what he intended to do. 

“Yeah,” Harry said, sitting himself down on the floor with his twins to play with them and allow Steve to pack his suitcase, “I’m really looking forward to it, and I know Teddy is. The Weasleys are his family too, I know that he misses them.” 

“And they know about Misty?” Steve asked, wondering what was going to happen with the young girl. Steve knew about magic and the wizarding world, at least he knew as much as he needed to, but Misty was not so knowledgeable. 

“Yes,” Harry said as he started tickling JJ, making him squeal in delight. “I’ve told her about me and the wizarding world, the basic’s anyway and she knew a lot because of what she’s seen Teddy doing. She swore that she would keep it a secret. I also told her that, because of what Teddy and I are, he has to go to a special school as well, one she can’t go to. She seemed to be okay with that, though she was upset that she couldn’t go too.” 

“Understandable,” Steve said as he threw some more t-shirts into his suitcase. The mess of it was seriously bothering Harry, so with a roll of his eyes and a flick of his wand, the items in Steve’s suitcase began to fold and organise themselves a little more neatly. “Those two have been inseparable recently, it’ll be difficult for both of them to be separated.” Steve chose not to pass comment on his husband's magic or the fact that he could have ordered the suitcase more himself, to be honest he was glad of the magical assistance. 

“I think it’s sweet,” Harry said with a fond smile as Sarah crawled onto his lap. “They’ll be friends for life after what they’ve been through together and that can’t be a bad thing.”

Giving up on his suitcase, Steve came and sat down on the floor with his husband and twins. He loved his family, however big and confusing it was, they were the centre of his world and nothing was going to change that. Taking JJ onto his lap, he smiled at Harry. He was happy in their decision not to have any more children, what they had was enough and it already made his heart swell with the love he felt for them all. Things were going to get better for them, he knew that they were. 

\-----------x

Christmas at the Burrow was chaotic. It wasn’t even Christmas day and the house was full to the brim with people laughing, joking, drinking and preparing for the big day. Molly refused to not have her whole family staying in the Burrow with her at this time of year and as a result several tents had had to be set up outside in the garden to cater for everyone. There were too many children and grandchildren and they wouldn’t have all fit in the house. The absence of both Fred and George still sat heavily on the family, though no one had said anything about it. Fred was gone and George sat in a cell in Azkaban, grief having consumed him entirely. 

Harry and Steve, being very special guests, had been allocated to the biggest bedroom aside from Arthur and Molly’s. It had once been Charlie’s bedroom and there was still a large dragon mural painted on one of the walls, which was where two cots had been set up for Sarah and JJ. 

Teddy and Misty were in a tent in the garden with Bill and Fleur’s eldest two children, Victoire and Dominique. Molly was a little unsure about the three girls being in the same tent with a boy but Misty wouldn’t share with anyone else without Teddy by her side and there was no where else for them to sleep. Louis, the youngest and only son, of Bill and Fleur was only five months past his first birthday and would be sleeping in the same room as his parents, Bill’s old bedroom. 

Percy had been allocated back to his old bedroom with his wife Audrey. Their eldest daughter was shy and didn’t want to be in a tent in the garden with the others so the six year old was in a fold-down bed in with her parents and little sister Lucy, who was only two years old. It was going to be a tight fit with the four of them but needs must, as Molly had said with a sigh. 

Ron and Hermione were in Fred and George’s old bedroom with their two year old daughter, Rose, and six month old son, Hugo. They had said that they would happily stay in a tent in the garden so that there was more space in the house but Molly was having none of it, she was determined to fit as many people into her home as possible. As the matriarch of the family. she did enjoy it when her house was bursting at the seams and she didn’t want the twins’ bedroom to be empty; their absence was going to be hard enough at this time of year as it was. 

Ginny had said that she wasn’t’ coming but then arrived at the last moment, three days before Christmas, her cheeks tear stained and her one year old daughter, Dora, in her arms. The two of them had been squeezed into the smallest of all the bedrooms. It had barely fit a cot beside the single bed. No one dared to question why Justin was not with the two of them, the whole situation was a rather sore subject with the family. 

Charlie had also come home for the holidays. He had taken a tent in the garden along with his new boyfriend, Josh, whom he had met on the dragon reserve. The two of them were under strict instructions to keep an eye on the kids and not to get up to any mischief. Molly didn’t want any of the little ones overhearing anything untoward. 

The morning before Christmas eve was upon them, everyone had piled into the kitchen and gathered around the table for breakfast. It was chaotic to say the least, with highchairs all over the place, babies eating mushed up cereal and flinging it everywhere. Molly, Hermione and Fleur were cooking bacon, eggs, pancakes and hash browns while the children that were stable on their own two legs were running around all over the place making everything seem even more chaotic. 

Harry, however, wasn’t hungry, he was quite the opposite and the very smell of the cooking breakfast was making him feel sick to his stomach. He had been feeling not quite right for a number of weeks and he had decided that while he was here that he would visit Draco at St Mungo’s and have himself checked out, not that he had told Steve this yet, he was still trying to figure out how best to broach the subject with his husband. 

“You should eat something, Harry dear,” Molly said with a look of concern as he refused a plate of bacon, toast and eggs, focusing instead on minimising the mess that Sarah and JJ were making in their high chairs. He hadn’t thought that giving the almost one year olds toast would have been too messy, he had discovered that he was very wrong. Harry’s stomach was churning dangerously still, despite already vomiting earlier that morning and the sight of mushed toast was not helping at all. 

“Lay off him, mum,” Ron said, grinning at Harry wickedly, “he’s probably hung over,” the redhead teased. Harry threw his best friend a dirty look across the table. It had been a while since he had been drinking, the last time he had been drunk was that evening with Skye while he had been on the mission with S.H.I.E.L.D.. 

“Nah,” Charlie chimed in, “I offered him a drink with me and Josh last night but he refused. Don’t blame him really, I’d much prefer to be in bed with a super soldier than be sat down here with some beer.” Josh rolled his eyes, knowing his boyfriend too well to be offended by what he had said. Harry shook his head in disbelief at how forward Charlie was, though Harry did rather enjoy the rose tint to Steve’s cheeks. 

“Which is exactly why I am going to see Draco at St Mungo’s this morning,” Harry said with a sigh. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, though he hadn’t seen Draco in a while and a catch up would be nice. Harry wasn’t keen to do so under these circumstances but they weren’t going to be in the country for much longer and he didn’t want to disturb Draco’s Christmas plans. 

“I hope it isn’t anything serious,” Molly said with a frown. She counted Harry as her family and she didn’t like knowing that he wasn’t well. She also wasn’t overly keen on the friendship that Draco and Harry had and she didn’t want it becoming a problem between Harry and Steve. 

“I don’t think so,” Harry said with a shrug, sipping at a cup of tea, which was the most that his stomach could handle right now, “it’s just something to put my mind at ease. I didn’t want to visit one of the American healers is all. While I’m here I thought I might as well.” 

“When were you going to tell me about this?” Steve asked, feeling a little hurt that Harry hadn’t mentioned it before hand. He knew that Harry hadn’t been feeling great and that there was something definitely going on with him but he hadn’t thought that it would warrant a trip to St Mungo’s and he didn’t particularly like the idea of Harry and Draco being alone together. 

“I didn’t think that it mattered that much, I’ll only be gone an hour, two at most,” Harry said with a shrug as he tried to clean up JJ, who had jam smeared all over his face. It wasn’t that he had purposefully hidden the trip from his husband, he hadn’t decided that he was definitely going to go until first thing that morning when he had thrown his guts up for the fourth morning in a row. Harry knew that Steve had a problem with Draco, mainly because of Harry’s past with him, however, Draco was still the top healer in the country and Harry still trusted him with, not only his life, but his children’s also. 

“Are you taking the children?” Steve asked as he was handed a now clean JJ, wondering just how much of this visit Harry had planned out. He was feeling rather out of place in this strange home with all these odd people, he wasn’t sure he was ready for Harry to up and leave him for a morning, with or without the four children they were raising together. 

“I can if you want me to,” Harry said, starting to make work on Sarah, who was by far the messier of his two twins. He didn’t have any objection to taking his children with him. Though he would have prefered not to as he didn’t want to subject them to the media frenzy that would likely happen when he set foot in a public domain, not having been in the country for months. 

“There is no need to take them,” Molly said before Steve could reply. “They would be perfectly safe here. The two of you could go together. You two look as if you need some time to just be a couple.” 

“I don’t mind that,” Harry said with a shrug, turning to Steve to see what his thoughts were on the matter. The super solider was looking a little undecided as he bounced JJ on his knee, the almost one year old gurgling in delight; he knew how much work the four children they were raising could be and he didn’t want to push that burden on to anyone. 

“Are you sure you’ll be okay watching them, they can be a handful,” Steve said, not wanting to cause offence to the matriarch of the Weasley family, to be honest he was a little fearful of her, she was a stern woman and he knew that she could easily kick his arse if it came to a fight, there was no way he would be able to better magic, no matter how super he was. 

“My dear,” Molly said with a disparaging look, “I have raised seven children single handed while my husband worked all hours of the day and night, I think I can handle four for the day, especially since I have an army of helpers at my disposal,” she told him as Harry handed her Sarah, who was now clean and eager to be put down so that she could explore.

“That settles it,” Harry said, “we’ll get ready and head out in half an hour. We should be back before lunch too,” he added with a smile to Steve who nodded his head in agreement. The Super Soldier felt slightly better knowing that he would be accompanying Harry but that didn’t mean that he liked leaving his children, though the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of having some peace and quiet for a while.

\-----------x

St Mungo’s was not as busy as Harry had thought it would be. Draco had been busy as usual but the moment that Harry had made his presence known, the well known healer had cleared his schedule and ushered both Harry and Steve into his office so that they wouldn’t have to be ogled at in the waiting room. 

“I wasn’t expecting to see the two of you,” Draco said with a smile, glad that Harry had thought to visit him since he was in the country. It had been a while since they had had a chance to meet, both of them being so busy. 

“As much as I wish this was a social call, I actually need a check up,” Harry said with a sad smile, “I’ve not been feeling great recently and I want to make sure it isn’t anything serious.” 

“Well you never were great at making small talk,” Draco joked, glancing to Steve, who was sat rather rigidly in his seat, fists clenched. The two of them only had one thing in common and that was Harry, their disagreements having gone so far as Steve punching Draco in the face. 

“Sorry, I’ve had a lot on my mind recently,” Harry said with an apologetic grimace. 

“Yes, I can imagine that raising four children is not an easy task,” Draco said as he transfigured one of the chairs in his office into a bed so that Harry could lie down.

“How did you know that it was four?” Harry asked, not remembering ever telling Draco that they had ended up adopting Misty. He was a little ashamed of himself that he hadn’t kept in better contact recently but things had been busy. 

“Tony,” Draco explained sheepishly, “we… talk,” he exclaimed. 

“You, talk?” Steve asked surprised, “you sure you don’t fondue?” 

“Are you comfortable with Steve hearing my determinations? I could always erect a privacy screen if you would prefer?” Draco asked, disregarding the fondue comment, not really knowing what it meant. Harry had looked to Steve confused for a moment and deciding to ask him about it later, however now the super soldier was looking less than impressed with the suggestion that he be kept in the dark about anything that could be wrong with his husband. 

“No, if I’m right in my guess about what’s wrong with me then he needs to hear it,” Harry said with a sigh as he lay down on the bed. 

“Can I ask what you think is wrong?” Draco asked as he withdrew his wand, preparing to cast some diagnosis spells. 

“I’d rather have you check and see if I’m right before I say what I think,” Harry explained, casting an apologetic look to Steve, who had stood up and was hovering awkwardly at the end of the bed, watching them. 

It took a matter of minutes before Draco started laughing a little, unable to believe what he had discovered. “How old are Sarah and JJ now?” he asked, causing Steve to frown in confusion at the odd question. 

“They’ll be one at New Year,” Harry said. “Why?” He had a hunch that he knew why Draco was asking but he needed to hear it from him. 

“Simply marvelling at your fertility,” Draco said, looking rather amused. Steve’s frown deepened, and Harry let out a groan, his head falling back as he stared at the ceiling. “I take it that you were not planning for another child?”

“Another child?” Steve asked disbelievingly. “Harry’s pregnant?” 

Draco nodded his head in confirmation, feeling a little taken aback by the revelation himself. It was clear by the look on his face, however, that Harry had been expecting it, or at least suspected that it might be the case. 

“We weren’t planning on it at all,” Harry said with a sigh. 

“Is it mine?” Steve blurted out rather suddenly, causing both Draco and Harry to look at him in shock, though Harry was angry too; he didn’t like the accusation that he had been cheating on his husband. 

“Of course it’s yours,” Harry snapped, sitting up from where had had been lying, moving so fast that Draco had to take a step back to avoid being kicked as Harry swung his legs round so that he could stand up. 

“How are you so sure?” Steve asked, folding his arms over his chest, looking at Harry rather accusingly, “You disappeared for days, how do I know you weren’t screwing every single guy you met?” 

“Fuck you, that’s why,” Harry snarled. “I’m not the one who vanishes all the time. You always just disappear on your missions and leave me with the children, I went on one mission, one mission that lasted four days and you lost two of our children!”

“I think that this might be a conversation best left for another time,” Draco interjected, not wanting to see Harry and Steve fight. He knew that it wasn’t going to be good for Harry, not in his condition. “For the record though you’re four months gone, a single fetus,” Draco informed them. 

“Only one?” Harry said, confused. After the last pregnancy and the fact that they had inherited Steve’s super soldier genetics, Harry had assumed that it would be twins again. 

“I know, it isn’t what you would expect,” Draco said, cutting off Steve before he could speak again. The healer knew what the only thing Steve would say would be to accuse Harry of cheating again. “Especially after the last pregnancy. However, it seems that there might be some health complications this time. I have determined that you’re roughly four months gone but the fetus is measuring small, which is why you haven’t started to show.” 

“What does that mean?” Steve asked, not liking the sound of health complications. He might have had conflicting emotions about whether or not he was the father of this new child but he loved Harry deeply and he didn’t want for him or the baby to suffer. 

“You mentioned that the serum changed you,” Draco said, “I have read your medical report post serum, however I would very much like to see the medical records before you were injected. It is highly possible that the serum has skipped over this particular child, especially since Harry is certain that you are the father.” 

“I am,” Harry said stubbornly, knowing without a doubt that Steve had to be the father. He had not been with anyone else, top or bottom. “I’ll take truth potion to prove it if you like,” he added somewhat bitterly.

“You can’t while pregnant,” Draco said firmly but I can have a potion made up, if you’re willing, that will determine the parentage of the child. However, it is an old potion, not really used anymore because of how it works.” 

“How does it work?” Steve asked, thinking that this potion would at least put his mind at rest if he knew that he was certainly the father of the baby. 

“Purebloods decades ago would want to ensure that their wives had not cheated on them. Pureblood heirs are hard to conceive and some witches, wanting to please their husbands with male heirs, would impregnate themselves via another man and pass off the child as pureblood,” Draco explained to them, hating that he knew so much on the subject. His own mother had been subject to the potion, Lucius unwilling to believe that Narcissa had been faithful to him. “The potion was invented to prevent this. It takes blood from the father and the mother and if the baby within the womb was not a match to the blood within the potion then the child would be miscarried within twenty-four hours.” 

“I’ll do it,” Harry said, knowing without a doubt that he hadn’t cheated on Steve and more than willing to prove it if that was what his husband wanted from him. 

“No,” Steve said with a sigh, “I know that you wouldn’t risk harming a child, you’re not that person. If you’d be willing to take the potion, knowing that it might kill the baby, just to prove it was mine, then I believe you.” 

“I’m glad you realise that,” Harry said with a sigh. “Can we keep this news to ourselves for a while please,” he requested, “I don’t think I’m ready for anyone else to know.” 

“Okay,” Steve said with a nod of his head, “as long as Draco can keep a secret too.” 

“I am bound by my oath as a healer,” Draco informed the two of them rather curtly. He was never going to be a massive fan of Steve but if the man made Harry happy then he was happy too. 

\------------x 

Christmas came and went in a flurry of presents, good food, laughter and, in some cases, drunken merriment. Harry, of course, remained sober out of choice, as did Steve and both of them kept their secret. It didn’t go unnoticed that Harry was refusing alcohol, something that was rather peculiar for him, however, Harry made the excuse that he didn’t want to drink while he had his children to think of. 

In the days between Christmas and New Year, Harry found himself coming to terms with the knowledge that they were going to have another baby, even finding joy at the situation, not wanting to feel as if his own baby wasn’t wanted. Steve, on the other hand, couldn’t bring himself to be happy; he was apprehensive about the whole thing, knowing just how much he already struggled with the twins, Teddy and Misty. 

It was likely that he would be away for missions with S.H.I.E.L.D. throughout the year and he didn’t like the idea of leaving his husband at home on his own with five children, with or without a S.H.I.E.L.D. nanny to help him. 

As a family they made the decision to remain in England until after the New Year celebrations so that they could also celebrate the twins first birthday. They spent the day waist deep in party poppers, presents and birthday cake and then the night in the garden at the Burrow under a magically heated Marquee, counting down the minutes until the clock struck midnight and it was officially 2014. A year that Harry hoped would bring him just as much love and happiness as 2013 had. 

When it came time to return to their Washington home on the 2nd January, Teddy was sad to be going. He loved being with all the Weasley’s and living in England because he knew that this was where his roots were, where his mother and father had lived and were now buried. It was made easier with the knowledge that he knew he’d be back in nine months at the latest as he would be going to Hogwarts, and that was the only reason he boarded the private S.H.I.E.L.D. plane without any objections. 

“It’ll be okay you know,” Harry said as he strapped Sarah and JJ into their seats, ready for take off. It was the first time that he had spoken of the pregnancy since they were in St Mungo’s and it took Steve by surprise as he had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t expected it. 

“I’m not so sure,” Steve admitted, casting a fond glance over his twins, who were gurgling happily in their specially designed seats. He couldn’t believe that it had been an entire year since they had come into their world. So much had happened in that time and Steve felt a little overwhelmed by it all. 

“Are you regretting this?” Harry asked quietly, glancing over to the adjacent seats where Teddy and Misty were buckling themselves into their seats, not wanting them to hear. “Are you regretting me?” 

Steve sighed, unsure of how to answer without causing offence. “I love you,” he began, wanting to make that point perfectly clear and needing time to explain how he was feeling to his husband without upsetting him. “I just feel as if I’m trapped in a Harry Potter whirlwind and I can’t catch my breath because I keep getting spun around so fast but just so you know I’m not about to give up because I’m starting to not mind being part of it.” 

“Well as long as you don’t mind being part of this family then I guess it’s okay,” Harry snapped rather bitterly. He hadn’t liked how Steve had used the word trapped. 

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Steve said, realising that despite not meaning to cause offence he had. He loved Harry and he loved their family, though he did feel as if he was drowning half of the time, with so much to do and so much going on it was impossible to do everything that was needed. 

“Please don’t argue,” Teddy pleaded, hating when his adoptive parents fought. 

“We’re not fighting,” Harry said with a sigh, not wanting to upset his two eldest children. “We’re having a difference of opinion,” he added with a swift glare to Steve, who was looking a little uncomfortable now that he knew Teddy and Misty were listening in to what they were saying. 

“Do you not want to be with us?” Misty asked quietly, refusing to make eye contact with the super soldier as she asked him this. 

“Of course I do,” Steve said at once, “I want to be here so much that Harry and I are going to have another baby.” 

“Steve!” Harry exclaimed, glaring angrily at his husband. He had not wanted to disclose this piece of information just yet. He certainly didn’t want Teddy and Misty getting excited at the prospect of a new sibling, not when it was so early and Draco had said that there might be complications. 

“You’re pregnant?” Teddy asked excitedly, “As in really pregnant? Is it twins again?” The ten year old was getting so excited that his hair was magically changing colours from blue to pink as he thought about what genders they could be, Misty couldn’t help but giggle quietly. 

“Yes, I’m pregnant,” Harry told them, “but we weren’t going to tell you just yet,” he added, removing his hand as Steve tried to hold it. “It isn’t twins, it’s just the one baby and it’s too early to tell you what it is just yet, Draco said that there might be complications.”

“The baby will be okay though, right?” Misty asked in a slight panic. 

“As far as we know,” Harry said, not liking that he was having to discuss this with his two eldest children. 

“Please prepare yourself for take off,” a voice announced over the intercom and Harry quickly did up his belt, as did Steve, the door to the plane sealing shut. 

“Look, it’s nothing to worry yourselves over,” Harry said as the engine on the plane started with a roar. “Everything will be fine, I promise you that.” 

“Yes,” Steve agreed, pleading himself to Harry’s words. They were a family and that was the way it was going to stay, he was determined on that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this, please leave a comment and let me know what you think.


End file.
